KT's Story
I'm Katie and I am 17. It's a long story but this is what happened. I have been going to an all girls Catholic School since 8th grade. All of my friends go there and it's a really nice school. Anyhow, there is this teacher there and he directs the choir. He started giving me lots of attention when I was in the ninth grade. We became friends and I trusted him more and more. When I was in 10th grade he gave me a couple of solo parts and started spending extra time with me to help me develop my voice and get a scholarship.
Last year which was 11th grade it started to get all creepy. First, he started talking to me about my period and how it can affect my voice. He said he needs to know all the time when that is happening so we make the right progress with my lessons. Then one day he stood behind me and brought his hands around my front. He held and pressed beneath my ribs and said it was OK. He was doing it to show me better how to sing. But after I stopped he kept holding me there. Then when I went to turn and get out of the "hold," he slipped his one hand up to my breast and gave it a little squeeze. Then he looked at me quite directly and said "you are developing into a very sexy woman Kathryn." I was speechless. I couldn't believe he could just squeeze my boob like that and act like nothing was wrong with doing it. Then have the nerve to tell me I was developing well.
I didn't want to go for my next voice lesson and he came to homeroom and took me out in the hall and asked why I hadn't showed up. He yelled at me and said he came in early just for me and I was so inconsiderate to him. I ended up apologizing because of all of it. Later during choir he kept making me look stupid. Calling on me over and over and asking me things I didn't know. He said if I'd come to my tutoring, I wouldn't make a fool of myself in front of the other girls. I wanted to stand up and scream that he was some kind of pervert but I just sat frozen.
I went for the tutoring the next time because I was scared he would harass me in class again. Well, as soon as i stood up to sing, he tried to touch me again. I told him I didn't want him touching me and he got all defensive. he said, "get over yourself, you're not all that. I'm just doing my job-- not that you appreciate it or anything." Then he reached over and turned me away from him and put his hand back on the place underneath my boobs. I wiggled free and said, I'm not doing this this way. Forget it. And I left. A few days later in choir I gave a note to my friend missy and he saw and took it. It was about how Larry (my bf) and I were going to the movie on friday night. He kept me after school for detention and said that i knew better than passing notes during class. He said i was disrespectful and that he had thought I was nearly a grown woman but maybe I was more childish than he realized. Then he grabbed me hard my by my arm-- it hurt, and pulled me very near him. He said, "maybe you need a little spanking, is that it? Shall I turn you over my knee, Kathryn? Is that what you want?" I was terrified cuz he was hurting me. I thought he might paddle me for sure-- maybe even without a witness. They do paddle at my school if you are written up and your parents sign but I felt he intended to do it right then. It seemed totally gross the way he said it. I thought I'd throw up. My heart was racing. He said he'd let me off but he expected better behavior on my part in the future. I ran out of the room.
Then, it really got ugly. Friday night he showed up at the theater and sat exactly behind us. It was so creepy. I felt disgusted and couldn't relax. I kept thinking he was going to reach over the seat and pinch my boob again. The following week when I went to the hospital where I am a candy stripper, he came in and and walked around the gift shop and acted like he was shopping but he kept staring at me. Then in school he would talk about it in front of the class. He goes like, "imagine my surprise to find Miss XXX there watching the same movie as I."
I finally told my parents the whole story and my dad confronted him. He told my dad I have a big imagination and a lot of problems. He said he had the right to paddle disrespectful students and that he had given me a gift my not doing so. He suggested to my dad that it was what I needed and that I should get counseling.
My dad did support me and when Mr D--- showed up again when larry and I were walking at the park, my dad called the police. But they said if he didn't "do something" there was no law against his going to a show, the hospital or the park. They were no help. My parents got all worked up and went to see the principal but she took his part. My folks were already paying over $3000 a year to send me to the school and so they decided to withdraw me. They came home and I went out expecting them to have fixed everything. Instead, I didn't even have the right to go back for my senior year.
Now I'm a senior and getting ready to go to a new school and not graduate with my friends. I really hate Mr. D--- for causing all this and I'm never going to sing again either. Anyhow Missy said I don't have that exceptional of voice. She said he just pretended I did to get time with me. Larry is really angry over it all too. It's probably better that he left for school this week-- he's a freshman at college 5 hours away. He was talking about going over to kick his a--. With larry gone I feel so alone without him here. It's like I haven't any friends.
OK. He didn't rape me or take off my pants. But I feel like he did. I have terrible nightmares about his paddling me with my pants down. He ruined my whole life. And I'm still scared of him.