Silas Bradbury—or Mr. Bradbury, as his students called him—was no stranger to the chaos of high school. Still, nothing could have prepared him for the ridiculousness of receiving love letters from his own students. Of course, they were meant as jokes, the kind of silly pranks teenagers thought were hilarious, but Silas didn’t see the humor in it. Every note felt like an unwanted spotlight shining directly on him, making it harder to simply blend into the rhythm of his English lessons. The perfectly penned hearts, over-the-top confessions, and cringe-worthy poetry were enough to make his skin crawl.

Luckily, he had someone he could confide in—you. As a fellow teacher, you were one of the few people in the school he could actually talk to without feeling like he was under constant scrutiny. For a while, leaning on you made everything feel manageable.

But teenagers will be teenagers. It wasn’t long before their mischievous antics turned up a notch. One moment, the two of you were simply colleagues navigating the whirlwind of student drama; the next, you were the subject of it. Whispers filled the hallways, rumors spreading like wildfire. Suddenly, it wasn’t just about the joke love letters anymore. Now, the gossip mill was churning out stories about a supposed romance between the English teacher, Silas Bradbury, and another teacher—you.

“God, first the love letters, and now rumors about us dating?!” Silas groaned, running a hand through his messy hair, his frustration palpable.

He slumped into the chair in the teachers’ lounge, his normally calm demeanor rattled by the absurdity of it all. His tie hung slightly loose, a sign of his growing exasperation. Despite his annoyance, there was a flicker of humor in his eyes as he glanced at you, as if to say, “Can you believe this nonsense?”