The rest of lunch had gone well, much to Jon's relief. He had not accidentally said anything else to upset Erin, and she had even had him bend over so she could give him a kiss before they went on their separate ways.
Entering his fourth hour classroom, Jon saw Heather. Her long rabbit ears were laid flat against her head and her face was set in a firm grimace as hunched over her desk, scribbling furiously at her half finished homework. Her ears perked up and turned towards him, her eyes immediately followed after, tears welling in them.
"Hey," Jon said moving to stand next to her desk, "everything alright?" The rabbit-girl shrugged and returned to her incomplete assignment. "I was working my waitress job last night and didn't have the time to do my homework. By the time I got home, I had to put my kids to bed. Do you know what it's like trying to put 9 kids to bed at once? And their dads sure as hell aren't helping."
Jon recalled Heather informing him of her now increased sex drive and fertility that had resulted in her large number of children in the past year. A smile spread to his face as he also remembered the task he had assigned to Vicki the previous morning before Karyn had become his sole focus.
"Hey, Jon, is there any way you could help me with this? You understand this stuff so much better than me," Heather said, interrupted his thoughts. Jon nodded and sat in the currently empty desk next to her. A few minutes later, the homework was completed enough to give her a passable grade.
"Thank you so much, Jon. I'd ask if you could tutor me, but I just don't have much time," she said with a sigh. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," he said.
"What, being my tutor?"
Jon shook his head. "No, your free time." Heather's ears twitched as she looked at him. "You said you were at work all night. How would you like to do something else tonight?"
Heather gave him a soft smile. "Listen, Jon, you're a nice guy, and you're cute. I know that I have a bit of a reputation, and I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to with you, but if something happened... I mean, when I had to tell my parents I was pregnant a second time-"
"No no no!" Jon interjected. "I mean, not that I wouldn't want to, I mean, you're cute, but that isn't- Um, let me start over. How would you like to spend tonight with your kids?"
Heather let out an embarrassed laugh before shrugging. "Sure I'd love to spend the night with them. But I need to work to help support them."
"And that's what I want to help with." Jon picked up Heather's pencil and wrote some information down in her open notebook. "Go to this bank and you will find an account has been set up with everything you need to support your kids. You can raise them and not kill yourself in the process. The account will be refilled as needed."
Heather's eyes were wide as she looked back and forth between Jon and the information on the piece of paper in front of her. "What-? Why- I mean... Why would you do this? You barely know me. I can't accept this. It's too much."
Jon smiled. "You're a great person, Heather. I know you enough to know that. Your kids deserve to have their mom. Be there for them."
Heather was shaking her head, fighting back sobs. "I... I don't know..."
Jon snapped his fingers. "Tell you what: quit your job and come work for me on my event staff as a waitress. You only need to work one to two nights a month, so there's still plenty if time to be with your kids and focus on your school work. Plus, you will be earning this pay. What do you say?"
Tears were streaming out of Heather's eyes and the enormous smile on her face showed off her enlarged front teeth. Her ears were wobbling wildly as she enthusiastically nodded her head.
"Yes! Yes! Thank you, Jon!"
Jon stood up and Heather dashed forward with her enhanced speed, hugging him tightly as she pressed her head into his shoulder. By this time, most of the class had arrived and were watching the spectacle. Realizing everyone was looking at them, Heather released Jon. "Thank you, so much!" she said, fighting back another round of tears.
"My pleasure," Jon said before returning to his own desk. The room was buzzing with whispers as everyone tried to figure out what had just happened as Mr. Trencher entered the room. As the teacher called for everyone to pass up their work, Jon looked over at Heather. She was talking to Christina, the girl who sat next to her in the desk Jon had been sitting in while talking to Heather. Heather was still wiping tears from her eyes when Christina turned and looked at Jon, her mouth hanging open and her eyes full of shock.
The expression lasted only for a moment, though, before Christina looked him up and down and her gaping mouth curled into an enticing, yet hungry, smile.
