For Sarah
"I can... I can do this!" The teacher said to himself as he walked into the classroom. He wanted to make a subtle hint to the student that he liked her. Sure, it was inappropriate, but he didn't care. He already had a reputation (among students and teachers) so what was the harm in living up to it once in a while? The student was just a third year, and his liking for her began the moment he set his eyes on her. When she was a first year. Meek and innocent, with brown eyes of an unusual shade. That was one of the first things that attracted him to her. Then there was the hair. The brown hair, which, a while later, she dyed red. Not that the teacher was phased. In fact, the red hair gave her a sort of edge. A rock-star kind of an edge. She was intelligent, a fact which he heard from the other teachers as the talked about students in the classroom. When he heard the girl's name, he attemped to hide his blush. He looked out the window, pretending he wasn't listening. Though, of course, he was. In fact, he was listening more than attentively when he heard the girl's name. Desperate to find out everything about her. One Social and Personal class a week with twenty one other students wasn't enough to get to know the girl. This seemed like the easy option. Eavesdropping on the other teacher's conversations. Unfortunately, the teacher couldn't listen to everything. He, as the school's guidance counsellor, had to listen to student's problems everyday at big lunch. He had an appointment today with Ellie Greer, a troubled student who frequently told him about her parent's marriage problems. He just wished that the other girl would come to counselling. He could get to know so much more about her, and look into those eyes. He was attracted to her, he knew. He knew it was wrong, but he just couldn't stop fantasising about her. Thinking about her. KIssing him, touching him. Loving him. He smiled at the thought. But that was all it was. A thought. A dream. Fantasy.
His attraction to the girl had had an affect on he and his wife's bedroom activites, not that she cared. He was far from sexy, and often, while they would make love, she would wonder why on earth she had ever married him. However, they had two daughters together, and the teacher's wife loved them with all her heart. Luckily, they had been blessed with their mother's looks, and not their father's. The teacher would often feel guilty about his attraction to the student, and the potential trouble it could cause, but hey, yolo, as some of the students in the school were saying. He liked feeling trusted enough to be told the student's problems, even if the counselling room's door had a window in it. You know. Just to "be sure" said the principal. The teacher knew the reason for the window, however. A sixth year had gone to the principal after her time in the school was over, telling her about the time the teacher had touched her leg. Honestly. What was the world coming to. He hadn't intended to take it further. He just had to feel her thigh. It had looked so irresistable in that skirt, and it was tanned and smooth-looking. However, it had cost him the privacy that he had had before. He moved the table into the far corner of the counselling room, away from the prying eyes of the school community. The teacher was planning on avoiding physical contact, but sometimes he acted on an impulse. The time with the sixth year being a classic example. He often made "accidental" entrances to classrooms as the students were changing for sports in their classrooms. Sometimes he would see legs, other times backs, and others, well... Some things are better left unsaid. But as long as he made out these entrances were accidental, he was safe. As was his job. He hadn't tried it on with the girl he liked before, though. He was worried about what might happen.
He entered the classroom, and there she sat in her desk at the front of the class. Right in front of the teacher's desk. Today must have been his lucky day, he thought, and he set his briefcase down. He often let the students chat amongst themselves during this class, and today he would be able to join in the girl's conversations, he thought delightedly. The girl was chatting to her friends, and said something that sounded like "Eating your brother?" the teacher said aloud, looking at the girl. She burst out laughing at him. She does.. She finds me funny.. He thought to himself. Step one, make a girl laugh. Hadn't he read that somewhere before? Yes, he most certainly had. He was already on the way towards it. He was in.
The student often wondered to herself what it was about the teacher that was so pathetic. Everything, perhaps? His attempts to fit in with the students often made him look stupid, but he didn't see that way. That's how big his ego was. She wouldn't have noticed herself, but her friends said it to her one day as they walked past the teacher in the corridor. "He likes you!" her friend had said, to the student's disgust. She certainly didn't like him. He was a little chubby, and had a receding hairline. His smile was stupid and goofy and he had a large bump on his head. His presence in the classroom made the student feel uneasy. Now that her friends said he liked her, the girl felt even more nauseous in his class. Everytime he looked at her, she felt like throwing up. She hated the fact that she had to see him once a week, and hoped he wouldn't be teaching her next year.
No such luck. When the student was in second year, the news was announced that he had been assigned to teach the girl's class. Maths. Five maths classes a week. The girl felt sick to her stomach. Why? Why me? she thought to herself. He was delighted, though. When he saw the student's name on his class list, he almost jumped for joy. This is it. He thought. This is my chance. He couldn't wait to start teaching the girl. He was going to make her love him. He wouldn't even teach maths, that woulkd be bound to make her like him! In fact, she'd love it! He'd leave class every once in a while to take a few phonecalls, while she'd chat with her friends. That way, the student would get to like him and he would make it seem as if he had friends. Brilliant. His plan got better and better.
He strutted into the classroom looking confident, but his heart thumped under his blazer and shirt that smelt faintly of sweat. He saw the girl sitting in the middle of the classroom. It was a shame he couldn't have some time alone with the girl. Just to get to know her. Just to make her like him. Just to see if she'd.... No. He had to stop thinking like this. He took off his blazer, almost tempted to perform a striptease for the girl. He couldn't though. Even the teacher, with his insane mind, knew that he couldn't. He had to save that until he knew her better. Until he was sure she wanted to.... No! He needed to teach the class. "OK, ladies!" He said, faking enthusiasm. "It's time to learn some. Open your books to page three. We're gonna learn about factors!" A brown haired girl sat in the classroom, staring blankly at the book. She didn't know what was happening. The teacher wasn't very good at explaining. In fact, he wasn't even teaching. The brown haired girl stared at him, and he stared at her classmate. She wondered what was going on between them. She thought she knew.
"I'm telling you, Kathy! He was staring at you!" "OH for God's sake, Mara! No he wasn't!" Kathy replied. Honestly. What was with people telling her that the teacher was staring at her? She could never notice it before, but now that she was noticing it herself, she wondered if it was true. As she left the school at home time, she saw the teacher staring over at her. She may have imagined it, but something told her she wasn't. Not this time.
That night, the teacher sat in his office at home, contentedly. He knew that the girl would eventually get to like him, especially with the way he was teaching maths. "Don't worry if you can't do your homework," he had said, and he could tell that this was the right thing to say. The student must have been delighted with him. He sat looking at his teacher files.
Student name: Kathy James, DOB: April 9th 1996, Address: 12 Lark Drive, Douglas, Cork.
His heart skipped a beat as he read all about her. This was fantastic. He knew when her birthday was. He could surprise her with a cupcake or something. An excellent way to earn brownie points. His wife came in, interrupting his thoughts. "Are you alright, darling? Dinner's in twenty minutes," she said, before leaving the room. He was annoyed that she interrupted him. What's more, he didn't want to have to listen to her anymore. He had to come up with a way to win the student over. He liked her. But he wanted to know one thing. Did she like him?
Kathy and her friends sat in the classroom. It was before school was meant to start, and they were all gossiping about the events of the day before. "I swear!" Mara said. "He was completely staring at her! It was unbelieveable!" The girls were all laughing. Kathy was too, even though deep down she felt worried. Everyone knew that the teacher was a bit of a creep, and now he supposedly liked her! It was too much. In fact it was disgusting. She didn't even want to know. She genuinely didn't. Why on earth did it have to be her? Why couldn't it be anyone else in her class, in her school? It had to be her.
