The Pepper & The Salt

Chapter One: The Lady

  Irene walked into her cold, silent classroom on a warm Monday morning. She relished in the serenity of her class, as she knew this would be one of her few moments of it. As she quietly checked her email and set up her lesson for the day, the school bell rang at 7:30 a.m sharp, as it did every day. She sighed and went to her door to go and greet her first-period students. Good mornings and idle chatter rang throughout the halls as she softly greeted the students coming in. Until she saw something that caught her eye- highlighted blond hair, piercing blue eyes, and a knowing grin. She felt a flutter of....joy? As she looked to see the woman who made her feel this way, but she had already had gone off. The final bell rang and the door shut as Irene shook herself back into action and began the school day. But she still had that woman stuck in her mind. "Who was she??" her mind running wild with speculation and curiosity... "I didn't even get to see her full fac-". Her thought quickly ended with a student calling for her help. Irene went on the rest of the class, nervous but just going through the routine, while the woman still occupied her mind ever so much.

  The day dragged on, students bustling in and out of class, causing mischief, not finishing their work, the usual....but something was different in Irene. All she felt were butterflies and her cheeks reddening thinking of her. Her beautiful hair, her striking mesmerizing eyes. She lost her train of thought as the bell for her final class of the day rang. Startled, Irene gave a quick "Bye class! Remember to finish your SOAPstone by the beginning of class tomorrow!". Once her students had all filed out, she decided to distract herself from the thought of the women, and just filled out her grades. When she went to her email, she scrolled through the messages of extra credit begs and absence excuses, until she saw "MEETING AT 3:00 AFTER SCHOOL MONDAY!!". In a panic, Irene looked at the time, 2:50. "Shit! I'm gonna be late!". 

   As she frantically scurried to the staff room, right in the nick of time. Out of breath, she sat down and waited for the meeting to begin. Chatter ended as the principal, Mr. Louis came into the room with his crazed smile. Irene never liked him, his fake persona and ford happiness always made her feel put off. But she listened quietly, zoning off to a fantasy world until... "HI Y'ALL, SORRY IM LATE, HEHE, HAD TO DO COPYS!" boomed through the otherwise silent room. Startled, Irene looked up to see her. The woman, her hair held up and a messy top knot and a wide smile, speed-walked her way right next to Irene and plopped herself down loudly and coughed. As the meeting continued, Irene sat, stiff and awkward as ever. "ohnoohnoohoohno" ran monotony throughout her mind as a light southern accent whispered "Can you believe this man, he's so passionate" The smell of coffee and sweet perfume made Irene lightheaded. "Yeah, he's really got the spirit haha..." Irene mumbled. "She so pretty~". Irene's thoughts oozed, she shook her head lightly and tried to focus on the meeting. She glanced to see the woman. the woman's outfit was composed of a short dress and a cardigan that did not match well with it. Another thought slithered its way through Irene's mind "I wonder what she looks like under that~". Irene cut herself off as she blushed hard and turned hard away from the woman's direction. "What am I thinking???" as her mind frantically tried to erase any semblance of that thought. The meeting ended and Irene got up to get back to her classroom when a soft-yet small hand touched her shoulder. She turned to see the woman smile and say "I don't think I've seen you around here! I'm Crystal, Crystal Hoffman!".  Irene stumbled over her words "oh Hi! Uh I'm Ms. Korlar, but you can uh call me Irene. I teach Honors Language Arts here.".  Hoffman smiled even wider and chuckled "I'm the US History Teacher here!" As Irene had little to say since she was already dying of butterfly stomach, she said her awkward and rushed goodbyes as she sprinted back to her classroom, too many thoughts...way too many.  

when gay but you hate writing about yourself and fictional characters and you just think making up characters will fill the gay void... Kryptic