I started teaching high-school freshmen three years ago when I was 23. I was closer in age/culture to most of my students than I was to the other teachers. That first year I bonded with a lot of the students; in particular with a small group of boys that were on the basketball team I coached. A couple of these boys developed normal crushes on me-as any horny teenager would have on a mildly attractive female teacher. Since they were 14, I would laugh off their advances by jokingly telling them to “ask again when you’re 18.”
Well, these boys are now seniors and as their 18th birthdays approach they have taken to reminding me of what I used to say. I know I should laugh off these advances and see the innocent boys that they were instead of the hot men I watched them grow into. But we’re talking...