Teacher-Student Confidentiality

After Mr. Jameson got off facebook, I felt at the top of the world. He talked to me, he talked to me like I was more than just a student in his class, like I was his friend. He told me he thought I was unique. I know these things really weren't much to be excited about, but I was. I was acting like, well, a teenage girl. I was all smiles and giggles, and I felt like an idiot for it. I had never felt this way before and it was different to say the least. I really, really liked him. It was safe to say I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight either. The night drug on whilst fantasies danced in my head. I think I slept a collective four hours the whole night.

Sunday didn’t seem to go by much faster. For the first time ever I was excited to go to school on Monday. I sat at the table with my parents at breakfast time all the while constantly refreshing my Facebook messenger underneath the table in high hopes that maybe he would message me again. I knew he wouldn’t, what reason did he have to anyway? I was a sixteen year old girl in an English class and he was the teacher. I was completely uninvolved in his life. The only time he would ever even notice me at all was when he was at work. That’s all I was. I was part of his JOB. Nothing more. Why was I even toying with the notion of anything coming out of this? I was setting myself up for disappointment.

“You know, Jacie, the homecoming dance is this coming week.” My mom interrupted my train of thoughts.

“I know.” I replied.

“Have you even gotten a dress yet?”

“I’m not going.”

“Why wouldn’t you go? It’s part of your high school experience. You’ll regret it if you don’t go.”

“I don’t want to spend my money on a dress or a ticket for the dance. It’s a waste of money. And I don’t even have a date anyway. Remember? All girls high school.”

“You know I’d be more than happy to give you money for a dress and your ticket. And I’m sure there’s at least a few guys in your friend group that would love to go with you. Didn’t you say that Maria is dating some college guy? I’m sure he has a few friends you should ask one of them.”

“I do not want to go with any human male that has any kind of connection to Maria or her boyfriend. It’s just a bad idea.”

“I’ll go with you honey. It will be like a father-daughter dance. We don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together, this could be a good opportunity.” My father intervened. I didn’t even say anything. I just gave him a stare as if to say, Are you shitting me right now?

“I don’t think homecoming is the best time for father-daughter bonding, dear.” My mother tried to explain.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. There’s no one I want to go with because I don’t even want to go at all.”

“Jacie you have to go, when you’re older you’ll regret that you didn’t. And what about Maria and Danielle? I bet they want you to go. Even if you don’t want to go with a date you should go have fun with your girlfriends. Here.” My mother said as she handed me six hundred dollar bills from her wallet. Money was no object in this house if you couldn’t already tell. “This money is for you to go pick out any dress you want, and to pay for your ticket. If it’s not enough for the dress you fall in love with just let me know and I will transfer whatever money you need into your bank account. Don’t even try to say no because if you don’t pick out a dress, I will pick out a dress for you and knowing you I’m sure you would hate anything I picked out for you.”

I sat and pouted for a moment but I know my mother and I obviously wasn’t getting out of this. “Fine.” I said, irritated. I grabbed my keys off of the counter and walked out the front door without another word. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate my mom giving me all that money, or even that I didn’t love the thought of a beautiful new dress. It was the fact that there wasn’t going to be anybody at that dance that I cared to spend anymore time with than I had to. I would be sitting at a table by myself the whole time. And for another thing, I didn’t have anyone to impress with a dress, or a fancy hairdo, or makeup that I spent hours on like the other girls at my school did. Despite it being an all girls high school, most of my fellow students found boyfriends by hanging out around the colleges in the city. Most of these guys completely used them and you could tell. Although I guess most of the girls from my school were using them just the same, so I guess it worked out for all of them.

I was cruising down I-35 in my Camaro trying to think of a dress store to go to. I could just go to Dress Barn in the mall, but I figured if I was being forced into this I might as well get a dress I actually like. I took the next right towards Balmain.

When I arrived at the store, of course one of the saleswomen immediately all but ran up to me.

“Hello, welcome to Balmain and how can I help you today?” she said in a high pitched excited fake-excited voice.

“Shopping for a homecoming dress.” I said reluctantly.

“Perfect. How exciting! Do you need help finding anything?”

“No, I think I’ll just browse until I find something.”

“Alright, well my names Adrian and if you need a fitting room or anything just let me know!” She hopped skipped and jumped away to the next person that walked into the store.

I must’ve looked through hundreds of dresses. There were a few that I thought were pretty, but nothing that really jumped out at me. I had almost given up my search when I saw the “perfect” dress, for me anyway. It was a long sleeved mermaid style dress with a plunge neckline. It was black with a sheer black lace overlay and covered in diamond beading. I loved it. And it was my size. I took a look at the price tag, twelve hundred dollars. I gave my mom a call and told her I found my dream dress and that it was “meant to be” because it was a one-of-a-kind dress, and it was in my size without having to do any alterations. Within minutes eight more hundred dollar bills were transferred into my bank account. I was told the extra two hundred was for me to get my hair done the night of dance. When I went to check out the Saleswoman was in awe that I could afford the dress with how young I was.

When I got home my mother was squealing about how gorgeous the dress was. She made try it on and model it for her. At least my mom was excited about homecoming. My dad thought it was a little risqué “for a sixteen year old girl”, but my mother shot him a glare as if to say, Shut up at least she’s attending a school dance.

As I was getting ready for bed, I hung my dress carefully in my closet. I laid down in my bed and picked up my iPhone to do a quick scroll through social media before going to sleep. As I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw a status update from Mr. Jameson.

“Chaperoning a high school homecoming dance this Friday...God grant me strength”

That was funny. I laughed a little before I realized I did kind of have someone to impress. Mr. Jameson was going to be at homecoming. As a chaperone, but he would still be there. If nothing else at least while I was bored out of my mind for four hours, I would have something nice to look at.

I was sitting with Maria and Danielle the next morning at school, and of course they couldn’t stop talking about the dance. Maria was babbling on about the excitement of slow dancing with her college boyfriend for the first time. Danielle was intently listening as if she cared. I’m sure Mr. Twenty-year-old-college-guy was just thrilled to be going to a high school homecoming dance. Maria seemed to think he was. Danielle was evidently going to be bringing her cousin as her date. Which is not quite as bad as it would’ve been for me to bring my dad but it was still pretty pathetic according to Notre Dame guidelines.

“So Jacie, what are you doing Friday night?” Maria asked.

“The same thing you are.”

“What? You’re joking right?”

“My mom is making me go.” I explained.

“Yay that means you can meet my boyfriend Marcus!” She squealed.

“Yay.” I said sarcastically. Maria ignored me.

“So did you get a dress then? Mine was eleven hundred dollars!” She proudly exclaimed. “It was a little higher than what my mom wanted to spend, but she said that I was her princess and I deserved it.”

“Cool.” I said.

“How much did you spend on your dress Jacie?” Danielle asked.

“Twelve hundred.” The look Maria got on her face would make you think she shit her pants.

“How much?” She asked as if she had heard me wrong.

“Twelve Hundred.” I repeated.

She paused for a minute in disbelief, “Where did you get it from? I got mine at Gucci.” She said now trying to change the subject.

“I went to Balmain.” And before Maria could get another word out the five minute warning bell rang, so I got up and started toward my first hour class.

School was uneventful that day. Mr. Jameson wasn’t even there, we had a substitute. Which made the day even more boring if it’s possible.

When I got home, I called and made my hair appointment for homecoming. I still hadn’t decided how I wanted it yet.

“How was school today Jaqueline?” My mom asked.

“Same as every other day, long and dull.” I answered.

“Are you getting excited for Homecoming yet?”

“A little I suppose.”

“Really? Is it because you found someone to go with?”

“No, I’m just going to hang out with Maria and Danielle.”

“Well I bet you’ll have tons of fun anyway.” My mom said as she picked up a laundry basket and headed downstairs to our laundry room. I wish I had someone to go with. I wish I was going with my new English teacher. What a conversation that would be with my mother.