The new English teacher

Ray of sunshine

Ever since the conversation with Ms. Luthor, I've found myself writing poems almost daily. Mainly because I love it, but there's also a part in me that wants to impress my English teacher. I've been looking for hidden meanings so I can use metaphors, playing with rhythm and rhyme and basically just experimenting with styles. I haven't quite figured out my own, but she will help me. That thought alone makes my heart flutter a little.

I figured out that the name Iris derives from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. I realised how amazing this is because the rainbow also refers to the LGBTQA+ community. I can't wait to tell Ms. Luthor about this discovery. I have English again tomorrow so I hope I can find the courage to talk to her then. What does the name Luthor mean? I should definitly get some sleep but I'm grabbing my laptop anyway.

Oh my God. How could I not know she was related to Lex Luthor?! The man who almost destroyed my cousin. I put my laptop away and stare in front of me with glassy eyes. My heart is pounding in my chest. I close the computer. I don't want to read it. What if she shares Lex's ideologies? My curiosity takes over anyway so I start to read again.

Lena Luthor testifies against her brother, Lex Luthor.

A picture of her in a striped suit is included and she looks at her brother with revulsion. I let out a shaky breath of relief. She isn't like him. I may not know the whole story but the person I know, or think I know, wouldn't want to wipe aliens of Earth's surface. But then again, she could be acting. It's what teachers do; they act a certain way to keep their students in line or present themselves as caring figures because it's their job to lend an ear whenever someone needs to be listened to.

Also, she has never expressed her opinion on aliens. She may just hate them and disagree with her brother because she perhaps thought of a better idea to get rid of aliens. Okay I'm overthinking this way too much now. Probably because I'm tired. I guess I'll just see what tomorrow brings.

I wake up, confused. I have a very weird feeling. Then I vaguely remember my dream. I was holding hands with Ms. Luthor and Iris was shouting at me. She was so angry because I loved someone who hated aliens. But I hadn't told Ms. Luthor yet that I was from Krypton and so she ran away from me, towards her brother. They both ran away, Iris and Ms. Luthor. What is Ms. Luthor doing to me? I've only known her for a few weeks and now she appears in my dreams. I don't even love her. I don't know her.

I enter the English classroom with a bellyache. The vibe of the dream is still stuck in my body. Seeing her smile at me doesn't warm my heart like it did yesterday. Her eyes shift slightly and I can detect a bit of sadness. Suddenly I feel bad. She hasn't done anything but be kind to me and, just because I hate her brother and had a weird dream, I'm acting cold. So I decide to give her a smile back.

While we're working on some exercises, I realise that it really doesn't make sense for me to treat her any differently. She is a teacher! It is not of my business who her family is or what her beliefs are. She just teaches me about English literature, grammar and vocabulary. That's it. When the bell rings, I feel her eyes on me. I'm sure she's going to ask me if I'm okay. I kind of want her to. I still want to talk to her about poetry.

Her phone rings and she looks annoyed when she looks at the name. What I'm about to do is really nasty. But I can't help it sometimes, no one notices anyway. When she picks up, I hear a man's voice, loud and clear, thanks to my superhearing.

'I swear, Lex, if you come to this school I will-', Ms. Luthor says, her teeth gritted.

'Kill me? We both know you don't have the guts.'

Ms. Luthor sighs. I just want to get up and hug her. I shouldn't of course but she looks so hurt. I think they were once close, Ms. Luthor and her brother. He turned insane, obviously, and I can't imagine what that would do to me, loosing a sibling like that. Alex is my anchor. Without her, I'd be lost at sea.

'Can we just stop this?', Ms. Luthor rests her head on her hand and she sighs. She looks exhausted.

'That depends on you.'

'I don't have time for this.' And with that, she hangs up.

I realise almost everyone has left the classroom and I'm still standing in the back of the classroom.

'Ms.? Are you okay?' I ask, hesistantly.

She is still thinking. Her green eyes look glassy and pained. My heart aches at the thought that I gave her an icy stare at the beginning of the lesson.

'Ms.?'

She is snapped out of her thoughts. A little startled, she looks at me. 'Kara!', a wide smile forms on her face, though it looks like it costs effort to maintain it. 'W-what can I do for you?'

'Oh, I was just wondering if you're doing okay? You look troubled.'

A genuine smile spreads across her face this time and her eyes look warm. 'That's very sweet of you, Kara, I'm fine. I have a free hour now actually so that's always nice.'

'Me too! I like them too, to relax and stuff.' I'm hesistating whether to tell her about the idea I got yesterday about Iris. For some reason I find it scary again.

'Are YOU fine, Kara?' Ms. Luthor chuckles a little while she looks at my hands fidgeting nervously.

'Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I was just thinking maybe you'd want to hear about an idea for my poetry?'

'Oh, you want to go through with my suggestion?'

'What suggestion?' I feel like an idiot but I just cannot think properly right now.

'About choosing English for the project.' She chuckles again, it sounds very cute.

'Of course! Woah, hahaha, yeah, I thought I agreed already?'

'Well, I didn't know for sure if the hug was a yes but yeah I had my suspicions.' She winks playfully and I feel like I am going to explode. An awful sound escapes my throat and I cover it up with a cough. Luckily she begins to talk before I can splutter any nonsense.

'Lets sit in the library shall we? The couches are really comfy.' She puts the hand with rings on my back, gesturing me to walk along with her. I can no longer breathe.

We sit down on the same couch, a meter or so apart. She looks at me expectantly.

'Okay so,' my voice shakes a little so I scrape my throat, 'do you know who Iris was?'

'Yeah, she was the Greek goddess of the rainbow, right?' Her eyes sparkle with joy.

'Yes! And the name of my ex-girlfriend. So I thought I could still let Iris's voice speak through my poetry while also referring to the LGBTQA+ community, seeing as the flag has rainbow colours. You said I should figure out my voice. I think this is it, because Iris is still such a big part of my voice.'

Ms. Luthor is just staring at me, not saying anything.

'Ms.?' She shakes her head and laughs.

'Kara, that's,' she sighs, 'beautiful. Oh my God. It's perfect.'

I put down my head and chuckle lightly. I feel so happy.

'I mean, woah, you could also turn this back to the Romanticists. They were inspired by medieval times, when theatrics were often based on figures from the Greek mythology. Sorry I'm obsessed with Romantic poets so you could just let me mumble.'

'No it's okay, thank you! I don't really know a lot about Romantic poetry but I'll definitely look into it.' I notice she is not really listening. She tilts her head and makes gestures with her hand. Then she starts to mumble.

'Her rainbow had been hiding in the comfort of a storm, before sunlight gave her a reason to reform.'

'I'm sunlight?'

'Oh sorry I'm getting way to excited. But yeah! You're a ray of sunshine. You see rainbows in every storm I think.'

'So do you.'

Ms. Luthor's cheek turn a little pink. She shuffles closer to me on the couch. She streches out an arm.

'Then we make a good team.' She says, smiling from ear to ear, as I shake her hand.