My Teacher Is a What?

~Maya~

The air was nice and cool, Ms. C and I walked a great distance, and we walked until we stopped at a little corner shop which was selling sweets. I looked in the window to see a girl that I usually would see at school, I think she was in my science class, I think Taylor was her name.

I stared at Ms. C, and she asked, “What’s wrong Maya?”

“Taylor is in there,” I said looking in the window worriedly.

“Who’s Taylor?” Ms. C asked, as she examined the sweets that were on display.

“Oh, she’s my lab partner in Science class, we barely talk much,” I said shrugging, and then hearing the little bell ring, signaling that someone was coming out of the store.

I then pulled Ms. C around the corner, and we watched as Taylor got in her car and drove off with some boy sitting next to her.

As we came out of our hiding place, I said, “Whew that was close.”

“Yes it was…” Ms. C said, but was stopped when we both saw Principal Harrison walking into the store.

“Uh…how about we keep moving?” I asked, tugging on Ms. C’s sleeve.

She nodded hesitantly, and then we walked off toward the park that was near by, that was when Ms. C asked, “So Maya, about this….thing that we’re doing together…what have we become?”

I stopped at a bench and sat down saying, “Well, I don’t know really, maybe we should take it slow and try to get to know each other, you know?”

She nodded, and said, “Ah, I see…”

We both stared at the sky and some children that were playing on the swings; it was a peaceful silence, until we heard a voice from behind us, “Why if isn’t Ms. Crystal, the English Teacher.”

Ms. Crystal looked up to see a middle-aged man who had golden brown hair, and eyes dark as night. His skin looked transparent, as I looked at him, I could see clearly through his skin.

“Mr. Hartomer,” Ms. C said, getting up and bowing to the man, “I didn’t expect you to come out today.”

She gave him a warm smile, and then she looked at me, seeing that I was a bit confused. “Oh, let me introduce you to one of my students…Maya…this is Mr. Hartomer…and vice versa.”

The man named Mr. Hartomer shook my hand; it felt weird like a sticky substance of some sort. He then said, “Nice to meet you Maya…I see that you and my co-worker get along well.”

I raised an eyebrow, and nodded, not sure what to say. I only thought, ‘Alright…why do I feel like he knows more than what he just said?’

He smiled as if he read my thought, and said, “Well, isn’t it obvious, and no, I’m not going to tell anyone…” he then whispered in my ear, “Your secret’s safe with me.”

I then looked up at him and then back at Ms. C, who only shrugged, and said, “Well, it was nice seeing you Mr. Hartomer, but I and my student have plans to take care.”

Mr. Hartomer nodded, and said, “Yes, of course you do, have fun you two, I will be seeing you later Ms. Crystal…if that would be possible.” He chuckled and then walked off, leaving Ms. C smiling, and me looked more confused as before.

~~

After that little conversation with Mr. Hartomer, I wasn’t sure if I could trust Ms. Crystal anymore, there was just too much that I wanted to know.

Like, for instance, why did that man look so transparent, and when we shook hands, why did he feel so sticky? What is he anyway…and what does he mean by, ‘your secret’s safe with me?’ I think of him as some creep and what does Ms. Crystal mean when she says that he’s her boss…boss of what? Does she have two jobs? Does she work somewhere else instead of school?

So many questions were rolling around my head, that I hardly ate anything that night. It seems my mom is slowly going back to her lovely smiling self, and that was a weird thing too, she seemed eager that Ms. C would come back soon.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of the phone ringing, and I heard my mom say, “Why yes, of course I would be happy if you came over for dinner. No, she’s feeling sick today, you can come over later if you have anything she needs to know about homework…yes, of course, I’ll let her know…yes…thank you so much for calling…see you soon…bye.”

I then heard mom’s feet pat up the stair steps, while I pretended to be sleeping. She walked in, and shook me saying, “Maya, Ms. Crystal will be coming over to help you with homework and she’s also staying for dinner, she hoped it would be fine with you.”

I looked up at my mom, and said, “Yea, I guess I don’t mind.”

She then nodded, and kissed my forehead before leaving my room. Great…just what I needed, my teacher coming over for dinner…how awkward is this going to be?