I come across stories where female (especially elementary-school) teachers realize something is wrong with a student and they have to go and protect them themselves.
Looking for something like that, but it’s a male teacher. Especially if it plays into peoples’ (eg parents’) suspicion of male teachers and shows something of a double standard. An ideal scenario is if the male teacher is gay and the student is a boy, where that suspicion and distrust really adds to the character interactions and drama, especially with the teacher struggling with wanting to help/save/protect the student knowing how it may be interpreted on top of everyone else (police, school administration, etc) seemingly not helping—but that’s just like an ideal scenario.
Generally that male protector figure role goes to the father, coach, or cop—but not so much teachers. The Troop by Nick Cutter had like a gay troop leader with his troop, which is the closest I can think of. I believe in Let the Right One In there was a teacher/coach, at least in one scene where they were swimming, but he wasn’t like the MC or played a role in protecting the kid, from what I remember. Something like a troop leader or coach might be the next best thing, but ideally it would be a school teacher, especially elementary, given the “preference” for female teachers in that role.
I would prefer the genre to be something more like horror or suspense or something like that. A more contemporary novel where a teacher suspects his student is being abused and does his own investigation is fine, but I would like for it to be more…threatening/visceral/heavier/etc.
Thank you.
by Rourensu