Falling From Grace: Student-Teacher Forbidden Romance

Chapter 23

[RECAP: Leonie is getting more and more enamoured of the school priest, Father Gabriel, even though he's forbidden to her]

St Winifred's "gym knickers" were the grossest thing Leonie had ever seen. They were huge, grey underpant-style things that you had to wear under your sports uniform. She couldn't even imagine her staid English grandmother wearing them. They came up as far as the navel.

Even more bizarre, given the long length required of school skirts, the skirt worn for sport was absurdly short. It was pleated, grey - like everything else - and even shorter than the cheerleading skirt she had worn in junior high.

It barely covered her American fanny or her English fanny - since arriving here she'd learnt there was a pretty significant difference between the two. Worse, you had to wear it rain or shine, winter or summer. And it was winter most of the year here.

It was drizzling rain when she trudged out to the netball courts with Figgy and Mai. Girls who didn't play lacrosse had to play netball, which was supervised by Sister Barbara. Sport was compulsory. Leonie had only played basketball before so she had to learn the rules from scratch. You couldn't dribble the ball which was hard to get used to. She bounced it a couple of times without thinking, which got her the whistle and a sneer from Suki Laverne.

"Yankee Doodle ain't so dandy when it comes to the rules," Suki said with a really bad attempt at an American accent.

Leonie ignored her. Suki was annoyingly skilled at netball. She had one of the shooter positions and was the top scorer for her team. Leonie had been given a position where you just had to run and catch and throw, and you couldn't score goals. She was trying her best for her side's sake, but she found it dull and restrictive.

Mai, although she didn't have the advantage of height that Figgy did, was very agile and nimble. Figgy was supposed to be scoring goals and made a valiant effort, but the other team won.

"Half of me wants to get onto the school team," Mai said as they sat by the side of the court afterwards, "and half of me can't be bothered. If you get on the team then you at least get excursions to play away matches. But then you get forced into endless practice sessions."

There were too many girls to all play at once on the two courts, so the teams had to swap in and out. While waiting they sat on some benches at the top of the slope above the courts, conveniently located under a tree with thick foliage that kept the rain off.

"It would also mean being stuck on a coach with Suki for hours," Figgy pointed out.

"Do you only play against other girls' schools?" Leonie asked. "Or are some of them held at co-ed schools?"

"If they were held at co-ed schools, I would be the captain of every sport team going by now," Mai said.

Figgy asked Leonie if she had played on any teams back in the US.

"No. I did some gym, but I was more of a drama nerd," Leonie said.

"But you were a cheerleader, weren't you?" Mai asked.

"Only in Junior High. Like when I was in eighth grade."

Mai was still fascinated by this. "Can you remember the moves? Can you teach me some?"

Leonie laughed. "Barely."

"Go on, show me!"

Mai was really persistent though Leonie tried to refuse. In the end she gave in. "It's probably not what you're thinking. We did pretty simple stunts."

"Stunts? You mean like human pyramids? The whole team all on each other's shoulders?"

Leonie was sorry to disappoint Mai. "Just really basic stuff. Like thigh stands."

Mai demanded that she demonstrate, and eventually Leonie gave in.

"Okay. But I'll need both of you. We really need four people, because there's supposed to be a spotter." Mai and Figgy looked confused so Leonie had to explain how it worked. Eventually they managed to lift Mai up as the flyer, with her hands on their shoulders.

"This is harder than it looks," Mai said. She half jumped, half tumbled down.

"You're suppose to raise your arms up in a V," Leonie told her. "Then for the other stunts the flyer - that's the person on top - does different positions." She demonstrated a lib or Statue of Liberty pose and got the others to copy her. Figgy managed it better that Mai. It turned out she had done several years of ballet as a young girl.

Getting more confident and stretched out, Leonie attempted to show them a scorpion. For this she had to stand on one foot while pulling her other foot back and upwards. She stood on the bench to do it. When she reached the full extension her sports skirt had fallen forward and the awful grey gym knickers were entirely exposed.

"I'm guessing you need a special type of costume to do that," Mai said.

Leonie grinned and turned her head... only to see Father Gabriel passing by the sports fields and getting a full eyeful of grey underwear.

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Hands up if you've ever had a bad underwear experience?

There's a wonderful old film, Margie (1946), where a schoolgirl falls in love with her handsome French teacher... and her bloomers keep falling down. It's well worth a watch, it has a very happy ending!

Here's the Big Romance Scene: