"Do you think she knows?" I was spacing the classroom floor back and forth.

"No. There's no way she could know. She's probably just trying to intimidate you, or she's jealous."

"But what if she does know? What if she tells my mom? What if she tells anyone?" I started picking at my fingernails. The next thing I knew, Daniel was pulling my hands apart. "Sorry," I looked down at the floor."

"Don't be sorry. I'll make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, okay? I'm not gonna let her ruin your life." I nodded.

"Okay," I whispered. He lifted my chin to look at him and gently pressed his lips to mine. His scent was intoxicatingly good.

"It's okay. I promise." I nodded once again.

.

.

.

For the whole week, I hadn't heard anything from Victoria and I was honestly starting to forget she was even alive. That was until I came home from school on Friday to see Victoria and my mom sitting on the couch talking. Oh shit!

"Hi, hun! How was your day," my mom asked.

"It was good."

"Victoria's here. She was telling me about all of these dance scholarships." Did she completely forget what Victoria had said to me in the mall?

"Oh! So you just dropped by unexpectedly?"

"Oh," Victoria began. I was just telling your mom about all of the opportunities I could open up for you in the dance world."

"Oh, cool " I'm not dumb. I was pretty sure she knew my secret. I wanted to know what she was really here for.

"Well, I should head out. Have to get back home to my husband." She looked over at me when she said "husband" as if she was trying to make me jealous that she could call him that.

"Well then, have a nice night," my mom said.

"Lydia, do you mind walking me to my car? Maybe we can have a quick dance chat."

"I have a lot of homework to do."

"Oh, it'll only take a second," she smirked.

"Fine." I opened the door for her and we walked over to her car and out of view of my windows. "So what do you really want, Victoria?"

"Your mom is so sweet. She speaks of you as if you are an innocent, little angel." She began playing with a strand of my hair. "Little does she know that you're fucking my husband? I wonder what your mother would do when I tell her that her little princess has shoved her teacher's cock down her throat."

My mouth opened but no words came out. "She probably wouldn't believe me. Of course, her baby girl could do no wrong. That's unspeakable. I guess I would have to get some proof first." She said the last part to herself, but loud enough that I could hear it.

"You can't tell my mom!"

"Are you scared? Does it put fear into your heart that I have leverage over you?" She grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled it back so I could look directly into her eyes. "Cry about it."

I hit her arm causing her to retract it. I smoothed down my hair. "What do you want? We both know that you don't love Daniel."

"When did you start calling him by his first name? Even if he is your fuck buddy, that's still a little informal don't you think?"

"What do you want!"

"I want you to be someone else's home wrecker! Leave my husband alone!"

"The husband that you cheated on? The husband that you don't love? Oh, wait!"

"And you love him?" I didn't respond.

I didn't know what I felt, to be honest. I didn't know what love felt like other than platonic love. I knew I had grown feelings for him, even if I wouldn't admit that to myself. But love? Was this it?

"You do love him, don't you? Do you really think that an inexperienced little high schooler can beat a grown-ass woman? Here's a news flash for you! You could never compete with me. The only reason he fucked you is because you were an insecure, little virgin with daddy issues who wanted attention and he wanted to get back at me. But I've learned the error of my ways. Now, I can give him what he really wants. He wants someone who knows what they're doing."

"You sound so confident right now," I said.

"Excuse me?"

"Weren't you the one who said you couldn't compete with a teenager? A teenager who was still 'tight'. Who had a 'perfect body'. Wasn't that how you put it?" She didn't respond. She didn't know that I had heard that conversation. "Look, you may be able to manipulate other people into doing what you want, but it looks pathetic for a grown-ass woman to be blackmailing a high schooler over something that you don't even want. Or maybe you do want Daniel. Maybe you just want him to be wrapped around your finger. But he's not dumb, and neither am I. You're just jealous that he's giving me more attention than you. Whose fault is that? Cause it sure as hell isn't mine." I walked back to my house without another word and slammed the door.

Honestly, I wasn't nervous about her telling my mom. I didn't think she would actually go through with it. Even if she did, she had no proof. An empty threat wasn't going to scare me out of the relationship.

"What happened," my mom asked.

"Nothing," I said. "I told her I'll talk to her about it later."

"You know when she showed up at the door I thought it was weird. Especially after hearing what she said at the mall. She wasn't exactly on my nice list, but it would be good to have connections. So I played nice for you."

"We have connections at the dance studio."

"It doesn't hurt to have a couple more."

"Well, it's weird because she's my teacher's wife."

"I don't know why it would be weird but whatever you say."

"How did she even find our address?"

"She said she got it from your teacher's student roster."

I nodded. "I'm going upstairs."

"Okay."

I sat on my bed and checked my phone. I had a text from an unknown number.