Page 99 of Ancient History

“Mr. Bright, why are you smiling so much about the bubonic plague?”

I checked myself in the window reflection. Yep, I was grinning ear to ear like I’d just won the lottery and an Academy Award on the same day.

Sex with Hutch was that good.

Really good.

We were doing it a lot. My butt was an old pro. And maybe someday soon, Hutch’s ass would get into the spirit, too. As I promised Aguilar, no sex on school property, including the teacher parking lot. Since he also had my back at the hearing, I didn’t want to disrespect him. And I really like Bryce the janitor.

“The bubonic plague is not funny,” I said to my students. “And I’m not smiling. I’m just…” Having the best sex of my life with the love of my life. “Really excited about history. I love this stuff! And I want you to love it!”

“We do love it, Mr. Bright,” Rosalee said. “History is my favorite subject.”

She probably said that to all of her teachers.

“Is the bubonic plague going to be on the next test?” Dale asked from his corner.

“The plague that wiped out one-third of the global population? Yeah, probably,” I deadpanned. “The effects of the plague were massive. Did you know that the earth’s temperature dropped in the aftermath because there were so many fewer people on the planet?”

Their eyes widened in surprise. See, history was more than a bunch of dates and wars. There was also disease and famine!

“Cool,” Reyansh said. He pulled out his phone.

“No phones in class. What are you doing?”

“I wanted to Google it.”

“Google the thing I just told you?” I heaved out a sigh known by adults who work with kids. My students could be incredibly bright and incredibly odd.

I glanced at the back row. No more Tommy Alvarez harshing the class vibe. His parents convinced Aguilar to let him switch teachers. The joke was on him because he was switched into Mrs. Herriman’s class, a seventy-year-old woman who ran her class like basic training and took no shit from students.

“The bubonic plague was a rough time for the world. Things went dormant. But the theme of history is that humans are resilient. We always bounce back stronger. Out of the darkness of the plague came our final unit of the year, the Renaissance, which gave birth to artistic beauty and scientific advancements that propelled humanity forward.”

Not to be that guy who compared his love life to major historical events, but maybe Hutch and I needed our own dark ages in order to appreciate our renaissance. Or maybe I had my head up my own ass.

“Yo, do you think a plague like that could ever sweep through the world again?” Dale asked.

“With all of our medical advancements and vaccines, I strongly doubt it.”

I returned to my class to check my lecture notes. Behind me, someone tapped on their desk like they were starting a drum circle. It was a soothing beat.

Tap tap-tap tap.

I spun around. The tapping stopped.

“Who was doing that?”

“Doing what?” Reyansh asked, his stab at innocence a major red flag.

“We’re almost done for the day. You can hold out a little bit longer to wild out.” The class went quiet. That was my cue. “All right, now what were the–”

Tap tap-tap tap.

Dammit. I didn’t catch who did it that time. It echoed from somewhere in the back.

“Stop the tapping, whoever you are.”

Tap tap-tap tap.

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