Teacher's Pet

Chapter 6: Lasagna Day

After a while, lunches with Ms. Manoban had become regular. Jennie always stayed after class and the teacher never protested. Most of their lunches were filled with idle conversations, while some were just sat in companionable silence. At times, the two would get into deeper conversations, and Jennie had suspected that Lisa was more comfortable with her by now.

It was rare when the conversations evolved around the teacher herself, since she had usually been the one to ask Jennie questions regarding her future. But as the weeks progressed, the brunette teen was able to get Ms. Manoban to open up. And it was nice. She felt... trusted.

During one of the lunch hours, it was another Monday and the brunette had decided to dub it as 'lasagna day', Jennie had brought out another container of the meal. Irene must have made it a Monday thing and that didn't really bother Jennie any, since the look of joy on Ms. Manoban's face was enough to make up for the meal she wasn't so fond of. And of course, the noises she made upon tasting the spicy dish.

The murmur of satisfaction that rumbled in the teacher's voice had the brunette so distracted that she hadn't heard the question Lisa had asked after finishing her swallow of food.

"I-I didn't quite catch that. May you please repeat the question?" Jennie's cheeks burned a deep shade of pink and she was quite sure it was noticeable. If Lisa had noticed, she didn't say anything.

The words that left Jennie's lips made Ms. Manoban chuckle. "I asked if you had any plans after high school. Do you plan on leaving Storybrooke?"

"Oh, yeah," Jennie blinked and sat straight in her seat, her plastic fork absentmindedly poking at the half-eaten lasagna square.

"Oh?" The teacher tilted her head with interest.

Jennie just looked at her with a blink, marveling in the way that Ms. Manoban had given her her undivided attention. She liked that. Usually other people acted so disinterested in what she had to say, with an exception of a select few.

"Where do you plan on going?"

"Sorry, I wasn't... My mind isn't here today." Jennie mumbled sheepishly, playing with the end of her ponytail. "I want to go to Boston. Chanwoo and I decided to join the police force up there together. I mean, of course I ought to go to college and I hope I get accepted into the one Chanwoo's at." she babbled mindlessly.

"Pardon me, but who's Chanwoo?" Ms. Manoban asked politely, pushing her thick, black-framed glasses up.

"Oh, Chanwoo. He's my gaming buddy. I think we hit it off 'cause he wanted to join the police force, too. He doesn't like the bastards that get away with shit, either, and he wants to help get those guys locked up." The brunette elaborated. She couldn't help but to study her teacher's face. She saw something flicker through those muddy orbs of hers, but Jennie didn't quite catch it. "He's actually supposed to be coming down here in a couple of months to tell me all about it. Well... he's supposed to visit all of us, but I'm gonna make him tell me about what it's like up there and what his apartment's like. I'm gonna have to crash there for a bit, I know for sure."

"I see," Ms. Manoban smiled. "I do wish you good luck and I hope that you do get accepted."

"Thanks." She gave her a sheepish smile, her fingers working at the seam of her jeans.

"I'm quite sure that it would be nice if you were able to go to the same school as your boyfriend. He is your boyfriend, correct?" Lisa could feel her heart sink at the idea of Jennie having a boyfriend. And that was really quite strange for her. Of course, she had felt like this before, it wasn't foreign. It was something that of jealousy. She had had such feelings so many times throughout her years. But feeling it now? That was just absurd. Jennie was her student. Her student. And she wasn't at all sure why she had these strange feelings upon her assumption. It wasn't right and it just confused the hell out of Lisa. She tried her best to mask the emotion flitting behind her eyes. But she couldn't get rid of that rock in her stomach. It was weighing her down and nearly made the teacher sick.