Life with Maryam edited 2

Part 6

The weekend before my senior year started, I was wondering who my teachers were going to be, most importantly my English teacher. I wanted to know who she was going to be and hoped deep inside me that it would be the beautiful quiet lady that looked serious but gentle and motherly. Little did I know that my wish would come true, and that I would be thanking God for answering my prayers for the rest of my life. Although at the beginning I didn't really know her, and so I didn't have any hopes of having a bond with her, very quickly it was apparent that there was, and that she was comfortable around me, which I never took for granted. You see, I made a bunch of friends with my teachers and those who never taught me in the English department, but I never thought Miss Zain would be one of them. It was so random and natural that me and my friends would chat with her whenever we could, at recess and other times. She became familiar with most of my friends and expressed admiration for the kind of friends I had. In a way, she helped fill in the void that Miss Anne had left. Miss Anne was an amazing teacher herself and was a good friend there at school. She would listen to my problems and help me with whatever she could; she really was my gem. One day in the eleventh grade, my class had the supervisor and the head of the English department attend a class of ours during English. The teacher had innocently told us the day before that she would give the same lesson as she had just given us for the next day so that she could impress both the supervisor and the head of the department with how excellent her class was. So, true to her word, she gave the same lesson. When they visited our class, there was only me and my classmate Jasmine, who was half British and half Kuwaiti, and spoke perfect English with an amazing British accent, participating. Even though the teacher had gone through all that effort of repeating the lesson, it felt as though she might not have repeated it because the only two girls responsive and alive in that class were me and Jasmine, and the supervisor absolutely loved it and genuinely enjoyed her visit with us. Later, when it was recess time, my friend Gege and I were walking and talking, and she suggested that we go and chat with her 22-year-old English teacher, Miss Lora who was a friend of mine and also my friend's teacher at the same time, which I was really jealous of her for that, I gotta say, because my teacher wasn't exactly a saint. We got into the department and walked a little until we found her standing next to a stack of pamphlets, so we offered to help her carry them up the stairs as she had a class right after recess, and it was Gege's class. As we were carrying those books up the stairs, there was silence, which if you knew me, you would know I hate nothing more than silence; it's just awkward. I blurted out to Miss Lora and my friend Gege that my English teacher had repeated a lesson that she gave us the previous day; her eyes bugged out, and she couldn't believe it, and even Gege, my friend, couldn't believe I told them that in confidence, or so I thought; I had no idea that trouble was on its way and that my world as I knew it would be flipped upside down thanks to my bigmouth and my trusting the wrong person. Two days later I came to school, saw my friends had breakfast and the day was going well until I spotted another English teacher named Lola, also young in her twenties, whom I genuinely loved and trusted, along with Miss Lora, but what they did would shock me to my core and leave me speechless. Miss Lola had something interesting to share with me so she waved me over. I came to her, we hugged, and then she told me that she and Miss Lora had both gone to the administration department and filed a complaint about my junior year English teacher for repeating a lesson to impress her guests. When she told me that I felt dizzy and I just couldn't comprehend what they did. I mean, seriously, I was a stupid 16-year-old girl who trusted them with something that could destroy me and my reputation at the school, but they both reassured me that I would be fine and that my name wasn't mentioned. I honestly, for some time, hated them for what they did, and even tried to keep the at arms length,but I never confronted them about it. I really do hope that they're reading this. You really hurt me a lot with what you did and I hardly believe that it was mainly because you cared about me. What you really wanted was revenge on my poor 11th grade teacher for getting a higher rate than what you got, who I'm not saying was in the right, but two wrongs don't make a right either, isn't that right? Anyways, I just stood there thinking of what my English teacher was gonna say because I still hadn't had English for the day. It was after recess that day so I decided that if she said anything, I would play dumb and that is exactly what I did. For the next few days, that was basically her opening speech for every class. I would hear girls trying to calm her down, telling her that they didn't do it and wished that they knew who did. Meanwhile, I stood there, played dumb, and acted all innocent when I was guilty all along. I really didn't like my teacher, but I truly never meant to hurt her either. I was just naive to believe those so-called teachers that I wholeheartedly trusted. My English teacher was going insane and her patience was running thin. She really wanted answers and kept pressing and prying and asking everyone who did it. A lot of girls had their eyes on me considering I was pretty familiar with the department and was friends with most of the teachers there , but I never admitted to anything and kept denying whenever the subject was brought up. I genuinely wasn't feeling okay about it all and knowing how trustworthy Miss Anne was, I decided to tell her and knew that she would want to know. Two days later, I was in a top students' rehearsal for our annual ceremony for top students when I saw her. I had already informed her on IG that I had something interesting to tell her and that I was in a pickle. I did and she was shocked. She put the blame on Miss Lora and Lola for not taking my permission and almost giving me away like that. They almost threw me under the bus. Imagine if my 11th-grade English teacher found out. She would be furious with me and she would probably give me an F. How would they save me then? Miss Anne was pretty understanding and told me not to feel guilty about it, seeing as my teacher had brought that onto her. In a way, she helped me move on. But let me tell you, my teacher would not let it go. She kept asking me whenever she saw me and wherever at school. It was starting to unnerve me, to be honest. But Miss Anne was always there to save the day and save me with it. She really was my gem. When I found Miss Zain, I never thought that she could be someone so special to me, just as special as Miss Anne was to me. She quickly solidified her spot in my heart, and just like that, I had two amazing teachers, one that I saw every day and one that distance kept away, but we still would talk, chat, and hang out whenever possible. Miss Zain had never had a friendship with a student of hers before and never thought she would, but I seemed to have made her break that rule, or maybe that was just an isolated case. Most teachers liked me for my good behavior in class and my respect for them, but Miss Zain saw something different in me and knew from the beginning that one day I would become something special. One day pretty early on in the first semester of my senior year, my friend Gege and I dropped by the English department because I had to tell Miss Zain something important about my presentation. We waited for a bit for her to come out; she was on the phone talking to someone. God, I hated the fact that I may have interrupted her call, but I apologized for that and promised I wouldn't take up all her time. My friend Gege, for some reason, felt the need to ask Miss Zain if I was any good in her class, to which I replied, 'Are you kidding? What kind of question is that?' Miss Zain completely concurred with me, 'Yeah Gege, what were you thinking?' Anyhow,  from that day on I knew Miss Zain would become a special person in my life .