Addie allows the school to believe she was having an affair with her math teacher, although it’s unclear whether she did this on purpose or simply lacked the social skills to correct their wrong assumptions. It turns out they never had an affair, but that doesn’t stop others from believing it.
Addie faces bullying from Kenzie Montgomery, a beautiful and popular classmate, who happens to be dating Addie’s former best friend, Hudson. As the story unravels, we find out that Addie helped Hudson murder his abusive, alcoholic father, an act that has led to their estrangement since.
An unexpected connection complicates an already messy situation (Photo: The Teacher/Nutmeg Productions and VTV Films)Eve, on the other hand, is troubled by her sexless marriage with Nate, who seems uninterested in her. Seeking comfort, she heads to a shoe store where she drowns her sorrows by buying expensive shoes and engaging in an affair with Jay, a shoe salesman.
This affair has been ongoing for months, adding more secrets to Eve’s already complicated life. Meanwhile, Addie is excited when the attractive teacher, Nate, notices her talent for poetry and invites her to join the school’s poetry magazine.
Nate continues to encourage her, even saying he plans to submit her poem to a state competition. Addie so inspires him that he writes her a poem himself, which feels more than a little inappropriate.
When Eve catches Addie cheating on a math test and threatens to inform the principal, Nate defends Addie, further complicating things. Eve grows suspicious and distrustful of Addie, especially after the lies she spread about her previous math teacher.
Things take a darker turn when Nate and Addie begin a sexual relationship, using the photography darkroom as their secret meeting spot. Addie believes they are in love after Nate declares that she is his soulmate, even though their relationship is illegal due to Addie’s minor status.
This makes Nate a predator, a fact Addie fails to recognize at first. One night, after Addie sneaks outside of Nate and Eve’s house and Eve catches her, Addie finds herself in the principal’s office again.
Nate tells her to lie about the incident, but no one believes her, as she was previously caught in a similar situation with her former math teacher. After that, Nate begins to ghost Addie, leaving her confused and distraught.
Eventually, Addie confronts him in his classroom during lunch, leading to a kiss that Eve witnesses, capturing it on camera.
How did The Teacher end?
Eve, after spending time with her lover Jay, decides she must leave Nate. That night, she gets drunk, kicks Nate out, and receives a text from Nate telling her he wishes Eve were dead. Addie arrives at the house and ends up in a violent confrontation with Eve.
As Eve tries to explain that Nate is a sexual predator and that she isn’t to blame, Addie strikes her with a frying pan and then calls Nate for help. Eve regains consciousness while Addie is preparing to wrap her body in a sheet. Nate strangles Eve as Addie believes she’s the one who murdered Eve.
However, she notices bruises on Eve’s neck and sees that the body has been moved. Nate convinces Addie to help bury Eve in an abandoned pumpkin patch. When Addie begins digging, Nate returns to the car for Eve’s purse but leaves her alone at the scene, intending for her to take the fall.
Meanwhile, Nate goes home and sleeps, leaving Addie to handle everything alone. After finishing the burial, Addie calls Hudson for help when she realizes Nate has abandoned her. Meanwhile, Nate starts finding odd things at his house, including shoes he recognizes as Eve’s, covered in dirt or pumpkin remnants.
The police begin questioning Addie after Nate points them in her direction. As the story develops, Kenzie, Addie’s school bully, arrives at Addie’s house to apologize for the bullying.
It’s revealed that Kenzie had been in a sexual relationship with Nate the previous year, and he gave her the same poems he claimed to have written for Addie. Kenzie and Addie reveal everything to the police, and they head to Nate’s house.
Nate, suspicious of the strange events, goes to check on Eve’s grave, only to find it empty. It turns out Eve had survived, clawing her way out of the poorly covered hole and eventually being picked up by her lover, Jay. Eve has been tormenting Nate and hiding out in Jay’s toolshed.
They follow Nate to the grave site, where they strike him with a rock, killing him. In a shocking twist, it is revealed that the poem Nate claimed to have written for Addie and Kenzie was written for Eve when she was fifteen and his student. Nate had been grooming and exploiting her all along.
The police halt their investigation once they realize Eve is still alive. Nate is presumed to have fled town, exposed for being a pedophile. Eve quits her teaching job and relocates. Addie and Hudson rebuild their friendship after he helps her that night.
And in a final twist, we learn that Hudson, Addie’s friend, is Jay, Eve’s lover from the shoe store. Eve is also revealed to be a sexual predator, just like Nate, but has managed to escape justice.
Did Eve know that Jay was a student (Hudson) at the school where she taught?
This is one of the most frequently asked questions about the book, and it’s an important one! The simple answer is that, yes, Eve knew that Jay was a student at the school and that his real name was Hudson. Why does this confuse so many readers?
Well, Freida’s writing technique often involves deceiving the reader with unreliable narration, and here, the narrator lies to us in their internal monologue. After re-reading the book, I was able to confirm that Eve had recognized Jay’s identity all along. She knew it was him, and she knew he was a student.
She’s as complicit in the abuse as her husband.
What did I think about the ending?
It’s hard to know how to feel about the ending… It’s disturbing, to say the least. As I went back through the plot to write about the twists, I felt a mix of boredom and disgust. Almost every twist revolves around the theme of grooming and pedophilia, which feels lazy and unsettling.
One mistake leads to a lifetime of consequences (Photo: The Teacher/Nutmeg Productions and VTV Films)Some readers may have enjoyed the plot, but for me, the twists—like Nate grooming Eve and Eve grooming Hudson—caught me off guard. I didn’t see either of those coming, so I’ll give McFadden credit for that.
The story forces the reader to feel some sympathy for Eve, as she’s the one who tells Addie that Nate’s behavior towards her is wrong. Even though she acknowledges that sixteen is the age of consent, Eve still recognizes that Nate, as the adult and teacher, should have known better.
But this sympathy is lost when we discover that Kenzie and Eve were both fifteen when Nate assaulted them. Even worse, Hudson (Jay) was also only fifteen when Eve began her abuse. When I lay out the plot twists like this, it’s pretty uncomfortable, right?
It’s hard to find enjoyment in a story where so many characters have been groomed or victimized by adults they should have been able to trust. The twist is a surprise, but not in a way that feels rewarding. Setting that aside, I also struggled with the logistical inconsistencies in the night Nate tried to murder Eve.
Once we find out Hudson and Jay are the same person, it’s hard to believe that Eve could have been lying, mostly buried while Hudson picked up Addie and helped her cover up the crime.
Then, Eve claws her way out of the grave, and Hudson somehow manages to make his way back to the remote pumpkin patch to pick her up, bring her to the shoe store, and get her boots. Based on how events are presented, the timeline doesn’t make sense.
