The New English Teacher Sucks (GxG)

"Rory! Rory, over here!" I glanced up from my novel and caught sight of an impatient figure sprinting towards me. I bookmarked my page and pressed the spine of the book against my forehead to shelter my eyes from the glare of the sun as I inspected the quickly approaching blob in the distance. It was my best friend, Jayda. "You're late again," I greeted heavily when she approached me, all out of breath and gasping for air as if she had just run a marathon when in reality her house was now less than a five-minute walk away from school. She recently moved closer to campus yet still somehow managed to be almost twenty minutes late. "I know, baby. I am very sorry." She kissed my cheek as I stood and wrapped an arm around my waist. "But I'm here now, okay? I'm here to protect you from all the big bad bullies of Saint Stanhope Academy." She mocked in a childish tone. I elbowed her in the ribs and tried my best to hide my smile. "Eff off, Jayda. I'm a strong black independent woman, I think I can handle myself." Jayda gave me a look and I knew all too well what was coming. "Half black and semi-independent, teenager," she corrected automatically. "Don't make me knock your teeth out at 7 in the morning." My best friend simply laughed and pulled me closer as we entered the double doors to the school. "My apologies, ma'am." To say I was happy to be thrust into this prison-like institution again after three months of freedom would be the first lie I ever told. I didn't resent school or so much the idea of it like the majority of my peers. I just resented the system. It had the potential to be better. So much better, but no political figure with any beneficial power had any intention or interest in the concerns and demands of teenagers in our society today. That is why I, Aurora Halewell, want to become the next president of the United States of America. Well, I wanted to, anyway. But ever since my life was handed over to a wannabe orange Cheeto lookalike... A lot of my plans have changed. Sorry to disappoint you, ten-year-old Rory. If I could, the first adjustment I would make concerning the schooling system was the learning hours. What is the point in waking me up at 6 in the morning to be here by 7:15 so classes can start at 9? My brain doesn't even begin to function properly unless it's 10 AM or later. Much, much later. But whatever; I don't formulate the rules and I only have one more year left so I might as well make the best of it and bring my internal political debates to a standstill. "Do you think we'd be getting any new teachers this year?" Jayda inquired as we passed the security guard who was dozing off in a chair by his booth. He wore sunglasses to disguise it, but besides his obvious slanted form in the chair and the occasional drooping of his head, it wasn't that hard to tell his eyes were closed behind them. "I'm tired of seeing all these plain old faces, aren't you?" "Shouldn't you be more worried about us getting a new guard?" I joked as a loud snore finally caught Jayda's attention, causing her to flinch. Her lips curled up in a half-smile as she looked over her shoulder and I could tell she wanted to laugh but was probably sharing the same uneasy feeling as me. "Now that's a topic for this morning's assembly," she stated suggestively, glancing over her shoulder one last time at Phill before visibly shuddering and speed walking further into the building in the direction of our lockers. Phill, the security guard, was in his late forties and I had labeled him as an okay guy throughout my first week at Saint Stanhope during freshman year. The assumption was only made because he was especially nice to me and even talked off some bullies that occasionally harassed me. But ever since that one particular day, he would always stare at me a little too hard or smile a little too wide as if he was expecting something in return for his brave act of kindness. I began to avoid him then and kept conversation between us limited to 'Good morning' and 'Goodbye'. My mother taught me to always be polite to everyone no matter the circumstances, so I kind of automatically greeted him simply out of habit at this point. Besides the mornings when I was entering the institution and the evenings when I was leaving after lessons or a meeting with the student council, I had no other reason to converse with him unless he was present during our school's monthly drills and was directing us back to class. But otherwise, I always tried my best to stay clear of him. And thankfully, I wasn't alone in the feeling creeped out by the situation. Jayda, along with a few other girls at the school we talked to frequently, had complained multiple times in the school washroom about catching him staring at them inappropriately when they weren't looking or admiring their chests a little too much whenever they talked. We tried telling the principal about this but he assured us that Phill was to be trusted and to excuse his behavior because he was just 'old and lonely'. Absolute bullshit, right? That was the second thing I would proceed to make adjustments to. No school should have their female students or even male students walking around campus feeling queasy about a security guard that they are entrusting their safety too. But apparently, our principal had bigger and much more pressing issues to worry about. For example, the football team's uniform needing a new design for the twelfth consecutive year. "That guy still gives me the creeps," Jayda confessed suddenly, snapping me out of yet another potential mental debate with myself. "Same. But at least we only have one more year with him," I tried to reason as I rampaged my locker for my English text. I had way too much s**t in here as well as the weirdest stuff. Snacks, texts, crumpled papers, shoes, tampons, two anonymous love letters I don't have the heart to throw away even though I got them in freshman year. You name it and you could probably find it in here... somewhere. "True, but one year too many." Jayda proceeded to complain. I glanced at her briefly and noted she had already found her necessary materials while I was still on a hunt through the sss jungle for mine. "Girl, you really need to clean that dump out." I rolled my eyes at her clearly judgmental statement and tried reaching my hand toward the back of the locker since that was where my smaller textbooks usually went into hiding. "I know, I know." "You don't know s**t cause if you did, you wouldn't have to be digging through literal trash to find a du-" "Found it!" I yelled, retrieving the book and flashing it in her face so that she would shut up. "You're insufferable." She chuckled, slamming my locker shut for me since I was juggling several items in my hands. "Tell me something I don't know," I mused, flashing her a toothy grin. Jayda leaned against her locker and smirked at me quite sinfully, "I slept with your ex." There weren't enough words in the dictionary to describe how much I wanted to hurt her at that moment. "What the hell did you just say?" In an instant, her smirk faltered and she was pinching my cheeks like a toddler. "Kidding! Geez, you look like you were just about ready to commit murder in the first degree." I simply glared at her as we made our way towards the student lounge. Now, this was probably the only best thing about the school. A whole area furnished with couches and bean bags to do nothing but sit around and talk the whole day? Yes, please! Just kidding. Well, not really. Some of us actually utilized the space to study and do last-minute assignments. At least, that was its original purpose. However, it was largely labeled the hangout lounge by us students – never mind the big chalkboard in the middle where teachers would sometimes use to remind us to complete our assignments and projects. It was complete with three desktop computers, two three-in-one printers, and a vending machine. The school provided the machines and our job was to maintain them with the required necessities. Sounds kinda cheap for an oh-so-prestigious academy but we weren't entirely brats about it and appreciated the fact that they even cared about us at all. There was even a thirty-inch flatscreen TV suspended on the center wall but they programmed it to show three channels only; the food network, the history channel, and CNN. Again, we were simply grateful for the consideration and kept our complaints to a minimum. The room was sectioned off in a separate area opposite the cafeteria so that it could be used during lunch or if you had a free period. Or, according to the 'Vibe-Killers', 'non-contact periods.' Thanks to senior year, I had a lot of those. We were called in a week before school reopened to retrieve our schedules and whatnot while the fresh meat (the newer students) came in for registration and orientation to avoid all the hassle that usually comes with the first Monday of school. It really did save everyone a lot of time and effort so there was more energy allotted to prepare for today and I had already taken a nice long look at my schedule. English was a recurring subject for me every year so I tried my best to squeeze in some reading time every day over the summer break. I was failing the class miserably and my mother threatened to take me back to her home country forever if I didn't get at least a B this year. Oh, the joys of having a Nigerian parent. Jayda and I sat in the lounge comparing schedules to see what classes we had together while we waited on the bell for assembly. We were the first ones to arrive, but less than five minutes after we sat down, there was a chorus of loud chatter and bustling coming from the opposite hallway where our lockers were aligned. Other students and teachers were arriving, and I could already hear our dearest friend James being scolded for skateboarding in the halls. I tried to pinpoint which teacher was scolding him but unfortunately, I didn't recognize the voice so I couldn't tell if he would be getting detention on his first day back or not. "Good morning, mamas," James greeted as he brought his skateboard to a halt in front of our desks, the many zippers on his leather jacket swaying back and forth with his jerky movements. "How good of a morning can it be if you're already being scolded by teachers?" Jayda snickered as we both eyed our friend. James sucked his teeth and slammed his leather backpack on the desk before pulling up a chair directly in front of us. "Y'all heard that?" he grumbled with a defeated sigh, retrieving his crumbled schedule from a tiny pocket in his bag. Jayda and I shared a look before silently agreeing we wouldn't tease him any further since he was easily provoked. "Pshh, nah," we said in unison. The brown-eyed boy groaned and ran his fingers through his golden, curly locks in frustration. "Man, y'all should have seen this one," he complained in a whiny tone, referring to the teacher that scolded him. "Today's her first day teaching and she's already bossing people around," he fretted, skimming over his class schedule with a deep frown and a hint of fury simmering in his clear brown eyes. "Wait, we have a new teacher?" I quipped, my interest suddenly piqued. "And they're a 'she'?" Jayda placed her two cents in, dance emojis lingering behind her excited pupils and James and his petty issues long forgotten. James' pierced eyebrows connected in dubiety before he lifted his gaze from his paper to glare at us. "Really? I just poured my heart out to you two and that's all you care about?" Jayda and I shared another look before facing James again. "Aw, of course not honey." Jayda sweet-talked him in her infamous baby voice while pinching his cheeks. However, there wasn't much skin to grab on to – given his hard facial structure with a jawline that could probably cut through silk. "You poor thing," I joined her, rubbing the hairy exposed skin on his arm in compassion. Of course, James saw right through our bullshit act, but thankfully he didn't explode on us. Instead, he shook his head in disbelief, his messy blonde curls brushing against his forehead as he tried to retain his smile. "You guys are annoying as hell." "We know this already," I winked at him playfully and this time he actually smiled. "But what we don't know is the name of the new teacher. So come on big boy, tea please," Jayda pressed, now leaning over the table as if James was about to confess the seventh wonder of the world to her. "Down girl." James pushed Jayda back into her seat by her forehead like a puppy before sighing deeply and giving us his full attention. "First of all, I don't know her name. But she's good-looking, I guess. Oh, and a huge bitch... if you didn't figure that out already." "How is she a b***h for doing her job?" I argued, an eyebrow lifting in curiosity. "By yelling at me, a whole senior, her first day on the job?" He retorted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Personally, I think he was just being his usual self – a drama queen. "Dude, teachers yell at you countless times for skating all over the place like a mad man on wheels. Literally." Jayda argued, thankfully taking my side. James tended to be very unreasonable sometimes and though Jayda and I usually sided with him whenever he got into trouble, sometimes it didn't hurt to remind him when he was in the wrong. "Jesus, whose side are you on?!" He sat up in his seat then, his broad shoulders no longer hungover in a slouch, clearly ready to start an argument. "Yours, obviously." Jayda rolled her eyes but I know she was about to put him in his place. "But come on, you need to calm down. It's her first day so maybe she's just ensuring no one takes advantage of that by making you an example. And like I said, it wouldn't be the first time a teacher yelled at you for that particular reason. What makes this one so different?" James stayed quiet for a while, slumping back in his seat and probably rethinking his options. I studied him for a bit and couldn't help but think how much he reminded me of my little sister who would always throw a tantrum when she couldn't have her own way. Then I realized something. "Wait, is it because you might already have a crush on her? Despite everything?" I questioned him and he perked up in his seat. "What?" "James, you sly dog." Jayda covered her mouth, struggling to hold in her giggles. "The new teacher? Are you only mad because you might be interested in her and feel like you've already made a bad first impression? Because I clearly remember you acting the same way with Sir Sanchez." Sir Sanchez was our former Social Studies teacher (as well as eye candy) and James was always striving to be the teacher's pet. Sir Sanchez had treated him nicely for the most part, but he did something very stupid in class one day that had caused the teacher to yell at him, and ever since then he had resented the man. And eventually somehow got him fired. The full details were still a mystery to me and Jayda. James stared at me in what looked like a half glare. "How do you do that?" I dipped my eyebrows. "Do what?" "Read people so easily when I barely said a few words." He thought it over for a few seconds, genuinely wanting to know. Unfortunately, I couldn't give him a proper answer so I simply shrugged it off. "Dunno, but it's very useful at times." I winked then smirked at him knowingly, and his head dropped to hide the small tint of red creeping to his cheeks. A few moments later, he lifted his head and abruptly cleared his throat, dismissing the topic with a wave of his hand. "Right, well, it's whatever. Forget it." And we all were about to do just that until the secretary approached us, her eagle eyes set on James. "Mr. Donavon." The older woman addressed him and he quickly perked up in his seat. "Good morning, ma'am." And suddenly, he had manners. Miss Grace glanced at Jayda and me briefly with a soft 'good morning' before returning her attention to James. "I heard you got into a bit of trouble with one of the teachers this morning." Jayda and I shared another one of our infamous looks. Uh oh. "Miss, it wasn't my fault. I didn't even bring my skateboard today." James tried to defend himself albeit lying in the process. "Oh? So you had absolutely no material to be caught skating in the hallways with just a few moments ago?" She continued to interrogate him. Miss Grace was a nice little lady for the most part. But when it came to discipline, especially in James' case, she had a zero-tolerance policy for bullshit. Don't ever be fooled by her heart-shaped glasses, messy bun, and ankle-length flowing sundresses; that heart of gold can turn to a heart of stone real quick. I felt Jayda nudge me in my side and kept glancing back and forth between my eyes and something on the floor. I directed my attention to where she was indicating and saw James' skateboard lying on the floor in plain sight. It was half under the table and half in Miss Grace's line of sight. Luckily she hadn't caught sight of it yet and I realized what Jayda was implying for me to do. I placed my foot against the face of the skateboard and tried my best to slowly reel it in all the way underneath the table, all in good hopes of saving my friend's ass. And it was almost there. Almost. Until there was another shoe, the shiny red tip of a stiletto more forcefully reeling it back out with an unseen force and exposing it for the world to see. I watched on in shock and amazement as the board was taken away from me as if it were some useless toy. The foot belonged to someone with great legs and a good sense of fashion when it came to heels. My eyes slowly lifted along the length of the woman's bronze-colored legs, skimming over her black pencil skirt and white blouse up to her dark red smirking lips and intense gray eyes. I would be lying if I said I wasn't frozen in shock for a good ten seconds more before reality finally caught up to me and I remembered how to close my mouth. I blinked a few times to take in the woman before me. Her long jet black hair fell off her shoulder in waves and ended just above her hip, framing her face in a way that showed off her high and defined cheekbones and roman-shaped nose. But what really caught my attention apart from her gray eyes that somehow looked silver when she tilted her head enough for the sun's glare to strike them; was a long necklace with a yin-yang symbol dangling in between her breasts. I tried not to let my attention linger in her chest area for too long, however, and glanced back up at her face just in time to see her shaking her head disapprovingly at me with a small wave of her index finger. The fact that she was still smirking left me in shambles yet again as I couldn't tell if she was just being playful or actually serious in her actions. I soon found out, unfortunately, it was more of the latter than the former. "Miss Grace," She called out to the elderly woman. The idea that I could be in trouble slipped my mind for a few seconds as I was too captivated by her voice. Smooth but firm, silky but rough at the edges. It sounded like a cross between Vanessa Hudgens and Blake Lively. "I believe this is what you're looking for," the woman bent down and gathered the skateboard in her hands, her gray eyes never leaving the curiosity of my hazel ones as she straightened up again. Still somewhat lost in a spell of her existence, I noted the faint yet slightly noticeable Russian accent to her tone. It made my sudden curiosity in her increase for whatever reason. "Ah, yes." Miss Grace smiled widely as if she had won the lottery, retrieving the skateboard from the mysterious woman's hand. "What do you have to say about this then, Mr. Donavon?" The older woman was peering down at James through her glasses now and if he didn't know it before, he certainly knew now that he was in for it. James glanced up at the woman behind Miss Grace and I could swear I saw him visibly pale before lowering his head from her line of sight. "Ah, s**t," I heard him mutter from across the table. "That won't do, Mr. Donavon." Uh oh, Miss Grace had heard him. "Kindly take your skateboard and follow me to the office, please," Miss Grace instructed, stepping back a little so that James could exit his seat and retrieve the detention bait from her hands. Jayda and I gave him a sympathetic look as he got up from his seat begrudgingly. "Wait, Miss Grace. Not to sound rude or anything but can't you give James a little break? I mean it is the first day of school." I tried to reason with the secretary in the sweetest voice my throat could've mustered up. "Sweetie," The unknown woman spoke up addressing me. The 'sweetie' came off as anything but sweet with her gray eyes piercing into my soul again. "Don't you think that's even more of a reason why your friend should be mindful of his rowdy behavior this morning?" I stayed quiet, swallowing back any words I had as if I had been bound in a spell. Jayda stared me down with an odd look and focused on the gray-eyed teacher before us with a look of newfound determination and confidence I wish I had. "Well, yes, and James should have known better. But I'm sure the excitement about senior year rushed to his brain a little faster than he could handle." From across the table, I caught James shooting daggers at our brave albino soldier as if he were ready to rip her head off. Miss Grace seemed to be contemplating her next course of action, her eyebrows connecting in confusion, but the other woman beside her was clearly not having it. The raven-haired beauty c****d an eyebrow in my direction and clasped her hands behind her back. I quickly noticed that everything about her screamed perfection. Her shoe was the purest shade of red I had ever seen, well polished and free of any stains even though it was raining earlier and I was positive no one could escape the number of muddy puddles scattered about outside. Her clothes were free of any wrinkles with her bloused tucked neatly into the waist of her pencil skirt. She stood perfectly straight at all times as if her spine physically couldn't bear another posture, and her voice always held a hint of a brewing hurricane undertone to it. I couldn't tell if she was happy, angry, or displeased with the way she spoke as she said everything all in one tone. "I believe she was trying to dispose of the evidence underneath the table." She pointed to me first, then the skateboard in James' hand, and finally to the table we were sitting at. "Oh," Miss Grace seemed to be looking at me through new eyes then. "Is that true Miss Halewell?" God, damn it! Why did this woman have to sell me out like that? And to think I actually thought she was pretty. No, drop-dead gorgeous. Actually, no, just pretty because now it appeared as if she was berating me with just the look in her eyes. I could lie, save my own ass, speak the truth, and get my best friend in trouble. But everyone knew how much I sucked at telling a lie and James seemed to be screwed either way. I quickly glanced away from her before she could catch me glaring at her a little too hard. I looked to Jayda for help but she was already shaking her head at me, clearly wanting me to help her save James' ass, but I was still stuck on what to do. I wanted to do the right thing like I always did, which was, to tell the truth, but I had to consider how much it would affect my friend first. Dismissing my silence, Miss Grace refocused her attention to James and a small frown painted her thin lips. "Mr. Donavon, I think you owe Miss Addington an apology." James immediately reddened and tried his best to maintain eye contact with the secretary, the muscles near his throat flexing as he audibly gulped. He looked especially guilty then and I wondered if he had purposely left out a piece of his encounter with the new teacher that we would hopefully find out about now. I looked to the woman who I assumed was Miss Addington, the gorgeous dark-haired woman that started this mess in the first place. She looked calm. Patient, even. And for the first time when I looked up, she wasn't staring at me but expectantly at James, waiting for his apology. "Anytime now would be great, Mr. Donavon." Miss Grace commented with her head lowered to her clipboard, scribbling down something quickly. "I'm sorry," James finally said all lamely, his shoulders slouching to show his obvious boredom. Miss Addington raised an eyebrow, clearly not satisfied, and the secretary peered up from her clipboard with impatience. "Is that all?" James shrugged and moved around his hands as if to say 'yeah, duh'. "When apologizing to someone you have to ensure you include what exactly you are apologizing for – because right now I could list a few things for you off the top of my head that you should be apologizing for instead of just one." "James, what did you do?" Jayda asked him in a gentle tone, leaning forward in her seat to gaze at him warningly. The blonde boy simply sighed and shoved his hands into the front pocket of jeans, suddenly finding the courage to return Miss Addington's fiery glare. "I am sorry for calling you a bitch." I saw Jayda facepalm herself from the corner of my eye while James offered me an apologetic smile. The new teacher smiled at him as if she was pleased with his answer and nodded her head once. "That is so much better," Miss Grace smiled, pleased with herself and James. She then grabbed his arm and turned in the opposite direction. "I guess I'll just leave Miss Addington to decide what to do with you," she glanced at me and then the gray-eyed woman. Oh damn, I was hoping she had forgotten about me. "Nothing too harsh, yeah? Aurora is a good sport. And like they said, it's the first day." Miss Grace winked at me then gently tugged James forward by the arm as they took their leave. Miss Addington folded her arms across her chest as she reprimanded me. I highly doubted she acknowledged Jayda's existence until she spoke up, too intent on winning the staring contest that had started between us. "Uhm, Miss Addington?" Jayda called out to her and she had no choice but to look away and regard my best friend. I mentally celebrated my victory party. "Yes?" "Hi, I'm Jayda Reede. Rory's best friend," She nudged my shoulder for reference. "Firstly, I'd like to personally welcome you to the school." She stretched out her hand for a handshake but the teacher merely glanced at it and left it hanging in the air awkwardly. Jayda reluctantly pulled her hand away but the smile never faltered from her lips. I glanced at Jayda in disbelief, wondering why in God's name she was about to perfect her art of ass-kissing on the new teacher that could potentially ruin my life. "Thank you," The woman replied in a monotone, her gray eyes flickering between Jayda and me as if she was studying us. Suddenly, I felt the need to remove Jayda's arm from around my shoulder. "Right. Well, Rory here, like Miss Grace said, really is a good sport and everything she does is with good intentions. So please don't give her detention on her first day. She means well and we were just looking out for our friend." Oh... So that's why she was being awfully polite.