The English Teacher ➳ Emison

Chapter 10 | Worlds Colliding

Friday afternoon, Alison left her classroom, shutting off the lights and closing the door behind her. She could already hear the sounds of the animated tumult coming from the quad, where many students had gathered to cheer for the notorious Rosewood High swim team.

She had used the time between the end of the school day and now to catch up on some work, but the meet was going to be starting soon, so she headed to where everyone else had already assembled.

There were many students and family members donning different blue items of clothing, holding signs to cheer their loved ones on the team. Excitement was in the air, and it seemed to Alison that this team was fully supported by the community.

She walked over to where some of her fellow teachers were talking amongst themselves, supervising the area.

"Hey," she greeted one of her English department colleagues - Debby Miller, a sweet woman in her fifties who had somewhat taken her under her wing on her first week in this school.

"Ah, Alison, I'm so happy you made it!" Debby spurred, giving her a warm smile. "Not all teachers take the time to come to these meets, but it's so important to support the students. Especially this team - it's thriving these days."

Alison nodded back, "Yeah, it seemed fitting. Some of my students are on this team, so I figured I would come."

She was of course referring to Emily, but not just her. A student of hers named Kim was also on the team, and one of the guys from the male swim team, Derek, was in her English class as well.

She just conveniently left out the fact that there was really only one person she was here to see.

She scanned the quad area, spotting the familiar faces of Emily's friends from afar, huddled up together amongst the sea of people. Emily's best friend, Hanna, was holding up a cardboard sign. Something was written on it in sparkly handwriting that Alison couldn't quite see from this distance, but the sign also had Emily's face on it, which was nothing short of hysterical in her opinion.

Her eyes were drawn to the open doors at the entrance to the space, where a woman just entered, speaking distractedly on her phone as she dodged students in her path.

Alison's heart stopped at the sight, nearly taking a step back. The older woman's physical resemblance to Emily was uncanny.

This had to be her mother.

She suddenly found herself blushing for some reason, a bit bashful to see the mother of the girl she had been secretly involved with, in the flesh. This woman had no idea that her daughter was sleeping with her teacher.

Emily's mom hung up whatever call she was on, stopping next to a tall man in a suit who was holding a clipboard. They greeted each other politely, shaking hands.

Now, this had to be the Stanford scout Emily had been talking about.

It nearly amused Alison how much she could assess just from seeing these people according to what Emily had told her.

"Have you ladies seen Paige McCullers by any chance?" Coach Fulton approached the group of teachers anxiously, fingers fiddling with the digital stopwatch around her neck.

"No," Debby answered in bafflement, and Alison shook her head by her side, relieved that she had not outwardly flinched at the sound of the girl's name. "Why?"

"I've been looking for her for the past ten minutes and I can't find her anywhere," the woman in the tracksuit huffed, annoyed. "I hate to ask this, but could you two help me look? There isn't much time," she pleaded, clearly on edge.