Chapter 9:

Anna glanced up as somebody came into her classroom, he had a bouquet of flowers with him and a clipboard. "I'm looking for Miss Anna Smith."

"That's me." Anna said, the girls were giggling together and she sent them a severe look. "Quiet down class." She said, "It's just flowers."

"They're pretty." Ruby said.

"What flowers are they?" One of the other girls, Penelope asked.

"They're baby's breath and lavender." Anna said, she took the flowers from the delivery man and set the vase on her desk.

"I need you to sign here."

Anna quickly signed for the flowers and smiled at the man. "Thank you." she said.

"Ooh, who are they from?" Anna wasn't sure who said it but she shook her head.

"Let's get back to class." She said, she moved the vase to her back desk and went back up to the front of the room "Now, who actually did the reading that was assigned last night?"

Unsurprisingly, only a few students raised their hands. Anna quickly took note of the students who had done the reading and said "Ruby, Trevor, Charlie, Paige, and Ella, you all get 15 extra credit points for doing the reading."

"What?" Anna turned in the direction of the complaint, it was James, one of the student's she'd been warned of at the beginning of the year.

"I've noticed that not many students actually do the readings, and your grades reflect it." Anna said. "I realize that Wuthering Heights or Pride and Prejudice may not be fun to read..."

"They're all about dresses and crap like that." Another one of the boys complained.

"Can we read a book with some adventure in it that doesn't involve talking with a guy your father doesn't like?" Peter, another boy asked.

"Our next book is Lord of the Flies, it's about a bunch of teenage boys that are stuck together on a desert island and have to fend for themselves." Anna told the class.

"Are there any teenage girls on the island?" Peter spoke up now. He had a glint in his eyes that made Anna's heart run cold. "That would be an interesting book, " The boys in the class laughed quietly as the girls looked disgusted.

"Oh yeah." Another boy agreed.

"I bet you think it would be fun to be stuck on a desert island with no supervision, right?" Anna could feel her blood pounding in her ears. She hated to hear guys joking about sex like this. Peter's comment almost sounded like it was pro-rape.

"Yeah, that would be great. No rules, no adults to stop you..."

Anna gripped the desk in front of her. "Girls, what do you think would happen if this class were stranded on a desert island?"

"The guys would come after us for sex." Ruby spoke up now. "Because apparently, they'll all explode without it." She rolled her eyes.

"Sex is awesome Ruby." Charlie spoke up now. "Just lay back, don't say anything and let us have our fun."

"But it's not sex when she's saying no." It came out harsher then Anna had meant it to, and she took in a breath to calm down. "It's not sex when she doesn't want it, or when she's drunk, wasted or high. It's not sex when she changes her mind or when she's passed out. Sex without verbal, continual willing consent is rape, and rape is a crime, Charlie."

The entire class was silent for a long moment before the bell rang, they all quietly got up and put their books away.

"If you do the reading tonight, you'll get an extra 10 points extra credit." Anna told the class as they filed out. "The page numbers are on the board."

Anna had her free period next and she sat at her desk, taking calming breaths. Tears pricked at her eyes as she tried not to think of why she'd had the outburst in class. She gave a start as her cell phone rang, after digging through her desk, she pulled it out and, after seeing that it was John she answered it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Anna, is everything alright?" John sounded concerned.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Anna lied, she forced a smile onto her face, knowing that her tone would change over the phone. "Why do you ask?"

"Your voice sounded different when I called, that's all." John said. "I'm not calling in the middle of class, am I?"

"No, this is my free period." Anna said, "then I've got a class of nines and I'm done for the day."

"Have you gotten the flowers?"

"Yes I got them about 20 minutes ago." Anna said, "they're beautiful." She sniffed, trying to clear her tears.

"Is there anything I can do, Anna?" John's tone was tender.

"I think I'm coming down with a cold." Anna lied, she wasn't about to tell John something so personal. Not when they'd only gone out on a couple of dates.

"I hope you feel better soon." The wish made her smile.

"Thank you, and thank you for getting Ruby to do the homework every night, besides one of the other girls, she's the only one who does the homework I assign on a consistent basis."

"She's a good girl," John said, Anna nodded silently in agreement. "She really enjoys your class, but don't let her know I told you that, she'll deny it."

Anna giggled, her smile becoming real. "I won't let her know I'm onto her."

They continued to talk for another half an hour, only hanging up when one of Anna's students came into the room. "My next class starts in a few moments." Anna's tone was apologetic, "it was nice to speak with you."

"I'm glad we got the chance to talk." John said. "I haven't said anything about us going out to Ruby..." he spoke carefully.

"I won't tell her. That's your call to make whenever you are ready for her to know. I figured we would keep it quiet unless things got more serious."

"That's what I was thinking." John said, "I'll let you go, and I look forward to seeing you on Saturday."

"I look forward to it." Anna said, they hung up and she took in a deep breath only one more class until she could take the rest of the day to be miserable. Why couldn't she just get over what had happened? It had been six months. It was time to get over what had happened. She was stronger then this, stronger then falling apart when a student who didn't know any better said something.

She glanced up as students streamed in. "Guess what?" she asked, suddenly not wanting to teach her year nines. Sophie, one of her students was the only one who looked up. "We're going to watch the movie version of Sense and Sensibility." Anna said, "and take notes on the differences between the movie and book versions."

She pulled open one of the desk drawers and pulled out the DVD case. "Let's get this started."

*page break *

John hung up with Anna, his brow furrowed. "Everything all right, John?" Robert asked as he walked past John's desk. John glanced around the precinct he didn't really want to talk about his dating life in front of Barrow and Kent. "Come into my office." Robert said.

John went into the private office and got right down to business, "It's about Anna."

"I hear from Ruby you have a date on Saturday." Robert said.

"Yes, we do." John said, "I just..." He trailed off, trying to figure out how to word this so it didn't come off disrespectful towards Anna.

"Yes?"

"When we speak to a witness and they aren't telling the whole truth," John started, "you know the look they get? The way they look around, the way they carefully choose their words?"

"Yes?"

"I feel like Anna's been doing that. Not that she's been lying to me about anything." John quickly added, "but just that she's hiding something and she doesn't really want to talk about it."

Robert looked at him carefully, for so long that John finally spoke again. "What?" Robert continued to look at John for a moment before speaking, when he did speak his voice was more serious then John ever remembered it.

"You didn't hear this from me." He spoke quietly. John leaned forward to make sure he heard his friend. "Anna and Mary met when they were 19 years old. They've been friends for nearly 18 years. I know Anna. She's spent holidays with us, when Sybil was in the hospital because of Sybbie's birth she sat with Mary for three days so that Mary wouldn't be alone. When George was born early , Anna went to Mary and Matthew's house and got the entire nursery assembled before Mary got out of the hospital."

"If she's been so close to the family how the hell did I not meet her before now?" John asked, the question was rhetorical and Robert gave an impatient wave of his hand, indicating he wasn't done.

Robert took in a breath. "I know Anna, she's like a fourth daughter to me." John nodded quietly.

"Since her parents died we've invited her to spend the holidays with us. Last Christmas she came and she was her normal self. We invited her to our yearly holiday on the beach this summer and she, as usual joined us. But she wasn't her usual self. She was quieter, more withdrawn. Something happened between Christmas and Summer hols, we're not sure what. Mary doesn't even know."

John nodded quietly again, "I wouldn't be telling you this unless I thought you needed to know." Robert said. "I'll also tell you this John." A small smile appeared on Robert's face. "She's met this guy, his name is John. She hasn't brought him by but I can tell he's good to her and for her. You're helping her John. Thank you."