"Mother" of the Year

“You all have ten minutes left to finish your exams!”

I sat back in my chair, watching the various reactions among the three-hundred students in the room – heads shaking in disbelief and defeat, hands rapidly scribbling down on the papers in front of them; at least ten students had their heads down on their desks.

I could only shake my head and smile a little.

Does this make me a bad teacher for enjoying their suffering, even a little?

I heard a small “Fuck!” coming from the top row of students and let out a quiet laugh.

Yep. It does.

“Five minutes left!”

The reactions doubled their frequency, followed by a couple of more profanities, and I could only laugh again.

The timer went off, and it was time for them to turn in their exams, finished or not – it was easy to tell by the looks on some of their faces.

Paper – dejected.
Paper – exhausted.

Paper – proud? Looks like someone actually studied.

Still, I did have some sort of sympathy towards them.

So…

“Don’t think about this exam too much, everyone. Depending on the results, there may be a curve, there may not be one.”

Collective sighs of relief followed immediately after, and soon the bell rung.

“Enjoy your winter break, everyone! Happy Holidays!”

They didn’t hesitate to file out of the classroom; some actually stopped to say good-bye and wish me Happy Holidays as well.

“Bye, Mr. Schwarz! Don’t party too hard! You do have exams to grade, now!”
The last student exclaimed as she dashed out the door.

And silence.

I glanced towards the large stack of papers, taking in what she just said.

…Fuck.

“Knock-knock~!”
“Hey, Mikael…”

He raised an eyebrow as he sauntered towards me.

“Your greater lack of enthusiasm troubles me.”

I leant against my desk and pointed towards the stack of papers without looking away from him.
He snickered.

“I told you that you would be paying for it if you gave them a written exam. I let the students do a fifteen-minute presentation as their final. In groups too, just to save time!”

“Yeah, but of course it’s going to be easy for students to do visual presentations in a Visual Arts course.”
“Touché.”

He leant against the desk as well.

“We should go out tonight. It’ll be your last hoorah before locking yourself in your house to grade papers.”
“You know I have to take care of Kyle…”

“Come on, Alec. You know Rosa doesn’t mind watching him. She adores him.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure your wife would like you to take her out instead of me.”

He let out another laugh.

“We already have our schedule figured out, dude.”

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Mondays and Wednesdays are ‘Guys’ nights. Tuesdays and Thursdays are ‘Girls’ nights. Fridays and Saturdays are ‘Date and Fuck’ nights unless a huge event rests on that day. Now, what is today?”

He gave me a smirk, waiting for me to answer.
I rolled my eyes at him.

“It’s Wednesday.”
“And that means…?”

He nudged my side with a larger smile.

“It’s ‘Guys’ night?”
“Ding-ding-ding!”

I shook my head a laughed a little.

“Come on! It’ll be fun!”
I was silent for a moment.

“…Fine, but I have to make sure that Kyle is okay with it.”
“Understandable.”

I looked at my watch – 2:33 P.M.

“I have to go pick him up from school, and if not tonight, then maybe another time, okay?”
I slipped on my coat and wrapped my scarf around my neck before picking up the heavy-as-hell stack of exams.

“Alright, sounds good…Do you need help with that?”
I shook my head as I walked out the door.

Mikael followed me out, closing and locking the door behind him.

“Thanks.”
“No problem. Don’t stress yourself out too much, okay?”

He pats me on the back before walking towards his car.

“No promises…”

| x | x | x |

3:00 P.M.

“Right on time…”

I stepped out of my car, waiting like the other parents for the kids to come rushing out.
The bell rung, and soon there was a swarm of children and pre-teens rushing out of the building.

And then I saw him, a large smile on his face as he rushed towards me, not hesitating to hug my legs.
I smiled just as large as I patted his head.

“Did you have a good day today?”
He nodded, smile not fading.

“Okay, I want you to tell me all about it.”
“On the way home, Dad. I’m kind of hungry…”

I scratched the back of my head.

“Well, I’m not going to lie: I didn’t cook anything today. Also, I’m going to be a little busy next week grading exams – my fault, sorry –, so if there’s anything that you want to do this week, let me know.”

“You’re still going to be home though, right?”
“Of course. And I promise not to touch a single paper on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”

“Good, because you need a break too, Dad.”

That reminded me of Mikael’s offer, but I decided not to bring it up.

“…I guess. So, what’s your stomach feeling tonight?”

He patted his stomach with a pondering face – my goofball of a son.

I only smiled more at the thought.

“My stomach says pizza.”
“Nice. Then shall we?”

He opens the car door and jumps into the backseat without a word.

“I guess that means ‘yes’.”

| x | x | x |

“So, how was your day?”
“Well, I passed all of my classes with – get this – A’s and B’s!”

My mouth hung open in shock.

“Really?”
He nodded with a proud smile on his face.
I smiled back and high-fived him before our pizza was placed in front of us.

“Anything else?”
I picked up a slice and took a bite.

“Remember how I was asked to help a couple of kindergarten students learn how to read?”
“Yeah…the Smith twins, right?”

“Right. Well…they invited me to their birthday party that’s on this Saturday.”
“Are you going to go?”

He frowned a little.

“I don’t know. Wouldn’t be kind of weird for a nine-year-old to be at a party that’s meant for five-year-olds?”

“I see your point, but you always brag about them being the best kindergarteners that you’ve ever encountered.”

He smiled slightly before picking up his slice.

“Besides, I think they’d be ecstatic if you went.”
His smile grew wider.

“Alright. I’ll go.”
“Anything else?”

His cheeks started to turn pink.
I smirked.

“Kyle…”
“Okay…I might…sort of…kind of…haveacrushonsomeone…”

Somehow I managed to understand that and my smile grew wider.

“Who?”
“Jason Kim. You don’t know him, but he’s a really nice guy. I think he likes me back too…"

He paused for a second.

"Do you think I should ask him?”

I bit down on my lip before picking up another slice.

“Yeah…I think you should.”
“Yeah! I mean, the worst thing that could happen is that he says ‘no’, right?”

He had such a hopeful smile on his face.

He’s finally comfortable with his sexuality.
And how could I ruin that?

“…Right.”

At least, I hope that he’s right, because no one deserves to go through what I went through.

...Especially Kyle.