Ocean Breeze

4-Keegan

Ryan Cooper's face had popped into my head several times over the weekend. I had decided to give her detention for a week after what had happened Friday. It was a little harsh but I had to show her and everyone else I wouldn't be taken advantage of. I had mentioned the situation to John but he didn't seem to pay attention enough to give any decent advice on punishment. I just couldn't get over he dark look in her eyes when we made eye contact and I still couldn't figure out what that look was.

I was standing outside my classroom talking to the home economics teacher when my eyes were drawn to a figure walking down the hall. I glanced to see Ryan walking towards my room. I pulled my eyes away as the bell rang giving me an excuse to end the boring conversation with Elaine about a pie a student had burnt.

I made my way to the front of the room. I decided it was now or never. "Ms. Cooper."

Ryan looked away from the girls she was talking with. "You have detention for the rest of the week due to your behavior on Friday. See me after class." I half expect a smart remark or at least for her to protest, but she said nothing and just looked away. I hesitated and finally accepted her silence as my response. I called the roster, skipping over Ryan, and then introduced the class the ceramics. Today would be focused on kneading and shaping the clay and tomorrow we would start using various tools to get everyone in the swing of things. My plan was to have everyone start on their "face jugs" by Wednesday. I made my way around the room helping and instructing when needed. I had only stopped at Ryan's table once to help a girl named Megan. Ryan didn't speak or make eye contact. I noticed she seemed to know what she was doing so I left her alone. All throughout the class I felt her eyes on me and I found I was having a hard time not looking back.

The bell rang and everyone darted out the door with the exception of one. I shut the door behind Victoria who was last to exit. She was going on and on about her grandmother's old pottery room I nearly had to push her out. When I turned I was surprised to see Ryan standing and leaning on the table she had been sitting at. I took her in. She had on a white t-shirt and dark jeans with Vans sneakers. Her hair was in a messy bun and she pushed it back with her hand before looking me in the eye and speaking.

"Look I'm sorry about the way I acted and talked to you Friday. I clearly fucked up, sorry it's a habit." She looked nervous. "I was just being honest but I guess I could've gone about it differently. Oh sorry I'm a little bit of a potty mouth," she said holding her fingers up only a slight distance a part and smiling.

For the second time in as many days I was stunned by her. I could've simply accepted the apology and let her go or gave her instructions on what her detention would entail but I said the first thing to come to mind.

"You really don't have any aspirations or goals for the future?"

This time she seemed to be stunned and I saw a the same look in her eyes I had on Friday. "I just don't see the point. If I could spend the rest of my days by the ocean, with my feet in the sand, taking in all of the beauty around me, I'd say that would be the best future I could ask for."

For a moment I forgot she was a student. There was something beautiful about the idea but also something sad about not having goals or aspirations in life, especially at young age. She was almost poetic and wistful when speaking about it. Like that truely would be her ideal life.

"And well the hot girl part too," she laughed, "smokin' hot." Her laugh was contagious and I found myself laughing too.

"Well I guess I can accept that, and your apology. You still have detention though but I promise it won't be too terrible as long as you make out to other students like I'm a no nonsense boss." I said smiling.

Ryan continued to smile and rolled her eyes. "Great so all that apologizing shit got me nowhere!" she groaned.

"No, it got you at least somewhere close to being on my good side until you cursed again," I stated.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that too. I curse like a sailor. You know you've only been here two days and you've got me to apologize twice. I think I may be saying sorry to you a lot," She smirked.

I tried not to read into her words too much but I almost felt like she was flirting with me. I wanted to be mad but I wasn't sure how I felt and before so could figure it out she asked, "So what's this punishment, Ms. Austin?"

I had looked through the storage closet and pottery room on Friday and realized they were in need of a major clean up. I showed them both to Ryan and told her I wanted to clean it up, get rid of things, and organize the rest. She didn't protest. She also knew where everything was and started pulling everything out and sorting it into piles. We worked together having casual conversation about the old teacher and of course all the junk we had come across. Before I knew it my alarm was going off signaling the end of detention. Ryan helped me place some things back into the closet and said a quick goodbye before heading out.