CheekShe succeeded in touching my eye. I didn’t invite it, she just placed one finger on it and then stroked it gently with four fingers. My initial thoughts shifted to other people who may have been hovering around. For some reason I was fearful, acutely aware of where I was. I had been apprehensive on the walk to school but felt a strange sense of protectiveness when I entered the main doors. The corridors would act as a kind of safety buffer. But when Miss Croal put her hand on my eye my heart rate frightened me, I gulped my saliva much harder and I could hear a croak in my voice.
‘Oh, Clem, what happened?’
‘It was nothing Miss, I got hit with a snowball,’ I croaked.
I felt ashamed. Undeveloped for her caress. I wanted to be in control, be a man, show the world, her, that I could han
