In a Class of His Own Ch. 08

I was eager to get back to work. It would be my second year; I hoped to improve my lessons, and correct the mistakes I had made as a rookie. There would be more free time, too - I wouldn't have to draw up a lesson from scratch, or modify one of Antonia's, every single night.

Ironically, I had no one to spend that free time with. Chantal was gone. Nina was seeing someone, and Moe was getting married. These things wouldn't necessarily impact my day to day existence, but added up, they were certainly food for thought.

The staff meeting at the end of August was like a family reunion. Louise hugged me, Nelson shook my hand, and Suzanne even said hello. Apparently, she was ready to bury the hatchet. Antonia gave me a big hug, too.

- "Hope you're ready." she said. "Tough crowd this year."

The Principal introduced Chantal's replacement as French teacher. Madame Chenier was a plump, 50-ish lady, who turned out to be a sweetheart.

Eva's replacement, as Grade 5 teacher, was Anna Colaiacovo.

I have no idea what was said at that meeting. Antonia elbowed me, to get my attention. But it didn't matter. I was looking at the new teacher.

She was 5'6", or so, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Beautiful eyes. Dimples, when she smiled. Wonderful smile. I shouldn't compare - but I do. Chantal and Nina were exotic, unusual looking. Anna Colaiacovo was stunning. I wasn't the only male drooling.

The Principal directed all of his remarks and worn-out jokes at her. Ed was hyper-ventilating. Our vice-Principal was staring. Antonia elbowed me again.

- "For God's sake." she said.

I couldn't help it. She was that good-looking.

So, for some perverse reason, I stayed away from her for the first month of school. I made friends with the new French teacher. Meanwhile, the Principal and the vice-Principal made complete fools of themselves fawning over Anna. Ed was a total ass, to the surprise of absolutely no one. Even Nelson seemed to be reconsidering his unrequited devotion to Louise.

Antonia broached the subject in early October.

- "Really?" she said.

- "Really what?"

- "You're not interested? 'Cause you sure look interested."

- "Could you give me a hint?" I asked. "What are we talking about?"

- "The new Grade 5 teacher ... maybe you remember - the gorgeous one? Drooling at the staff meeting?"

- "I was probably looking at the new French teacher." I said.

Antonia punched me in the arm. "I knew it! I knew you were full of shit!" she said. "So ... is this some new kind of strategy? Fill me in."

- "You make it sound so calculated." I said.

- "Never mind. Spill." she said.

- "It's not that complicated." I said. "The poor girl is trying to cope with her class - remember when you were a rookie? I certainly do."

Antonia rolled her eyes. "That was last year, Chris."

- "Right. So it's fresh in my mind. Anyway - she's up to her eyeballs in work. And she's getting hit on twice a day. Ed, our esteemed administrators, the caretaker ... even Nelson is looking susceptible."

- "I get it. Wait until she thins the herd." said Antonia.

- "Not quite the analogy I would have picked." I said.

- "It fits. You're stalking her, too. You're just more patient."

It was actually more complicated than that. I was a graduate of the University of Moe. And the signals I was getting from Anna Colaiocovo were decidedly mixed.

She made eye contact with me, and treated me to more than a few dazzling smiles. I also got a few hair flips, and the occasional head toss. There was also one memorable coy smile that nearly melted me. But there were other times, when she didn't even seem aware that I was in the room.

I sympathized with Anna's predicament. She was burning the midnight oil - I knew, because I'd been there only last year. She was also dealing with daily approaches from the males on staff. Nowadays, they'd call it sexual harassment - back then ... I don't know - maybe she was supposed to feel flattered.

I just didn't want to add to it. Yes, I thought she'd be more likely to notice me once the other guys had given up. But I also felt for her. So I left her alone.

That doesn't mean that I didn't look. She was achingly pretty. I was surprised that someone hadn't already talked her into modelling. Maybe she wasn't tall enough.

The kids liked her right away. She was strict, but they could tell how much effort she was pouring into her work. Antonia approved of her. Louise was highly complimentary, too.

There were two things I noticed, through September and early October. First, Anna had a beautiful voice. It was almost unfair, that she should be so pretty, and blessed with a sweet voice. Not especially deep, but far from shrill. Just the kind of voice that's a pleasure to listen to. I would've hung around while she read from a shopping list.

Second, Anna was environmentally conscious. It might not sound like a big deal, but back in those days, Greenpeace volunteers weren't so thick on the ground. I was impressed then, and I still am.

I had one conversation with Anna. It was early in October, and it was all Antonia's fault.

- "Chris - come over here." said my partner. "Anna thinks that we should have a clean-up crew. The senior classes could all take a turn. Isn't that what you were suggesting last year?"

I had to stand three feet away from Anna, while she smiled shyly at me.

- "Really?" said Anna.

- "Umm, yeah." That was the best I could get out.

- "It would be great if we could have the kids pick up trash on both sides of King Street." said Antonia. "Why don't you guys coordinate? Chris can organize the Grade sevens, and Anna, you can bring in the fives."

I managed not to drool on Anna, or wet myself, while she asked me about the possibility of setting up an environmental group in the school. We agreed to think it over, and discuss it next week.

- "I'm so glad we had this chance to talk." she said

When Anna walked away, I turned to Antonia.

- "You're evil." I said.

- "I know." she admitted. "But it's so much fun."

I ended up meeting Anna from time to time, but I kept it light, and friendly. She was extremely nice to me, but I still sensed a certain amount of reserve. I couldn't figure out what it was. But after a few weeks, I thought I sensed her warming to me. The overwhelming majority of the signals I was getting from her were positive. What the hell - the worst she could say was 'no.'

- "Would you like to go for a coffee after work?" I asked.

She said no.

"I have so much to finish before tomorrow." she explained. Anna was polite, and the excuse was perfectly legitimate - but it was a 'no'.

- "No problem." I said. Honestly - I was surprised. How had I misread her so badly?

***

Our first set of parent-teacher interviews came up. In my rookie year, I had been amazed to discover that virtually all of the parents showed up. I couldn't remember my own Mom ever going to mine; I was pretty sure that Dad didn't even know where my school was.

The parents that I saw at Pinecrest were almost all quite friendly. They just wanted to hear nice things about their kids. Many thanked me, or told me that their son or daughter enjoyed my class. A few had legitimate concerns, but I was prepared for those.

I was not prepared for my last interview of the evening. The lady who swept in was short - 5'1", tops - but she was wearing four inch heels. Her black dress ended at mid-thigh, and left most of her shoulders bare. She was also showing an indecent amount of cleavage.

When she sat down opposite me, I kept my eyes glued to her face.

She extended her hand, across the desk. "I'm Liz Amaral - Marianna's mother."

- "Pleased to meet you, Mrs Amaral." I said.

She held on to my had a lot longer than necessary. She had auburn hair, blue eyes, extra-long eyelashes, and bright lipstick. Her fingernails were painted the same shade. She was also wearing a necklace with a pendant - but I couldn't see the pendant, because it vanished into the chasm between her sizeable breasts.

- "Please call me Liz." said Mrs Amaral. "Marianna loves your class. She talks about you almost every day. I think she has a bit of a crush on her teacher."

- "She's a sweet girl." I said. That was true. Marianna wasn't a gifted student, but she tried hard, and she had a pleasant personality.

- "Her sister Claudia is already looking forward to being in your class. She's only in Grade 5 right now, but if she could skip a year, I think she would."

While she spoke, Mrs Amaral - I couldn't think of her as Liz - was toying with the necklace, just above her cleavage. She laughed at everything I said, and arched her back to thrust her tits even further across the desk. She also adjusted her dress eleven or twelve times.

I kept it as professional as I could. Finally, she glanced at the clock. It was 10 past nine.

- "Oh, dear - I've kept you so long, and you must be exhausted. But maybe we could meet to discuss Marianna's progress in more ... detail?" She said this while fingering the necklace. "Maybe you could come over ... for a coffee, some time?"

I was still new to teaching. But Moe had taught me a great deal. And the message this woman was sending me was unmistakeable.

- "Mrs Amaral." I said. "Liz - if you would like to discuss Marianna in greater detail, I can arrange to meet you here after class - whenever it's convenient for you."

"But meeting you outside of school could be seen as ... a bit unprofessional." I added. "And I don't think my girlfriend would be thrilled to find out that I was meeting a lady as ... attractive as you are."

- "Oh!" she said. "I didn't realize that you were .. in a relationship. Lucky girl. I would never ask you to do something unprofessional."

I escaped my last interview unmolested. Antonia had already finished hers, and was loitering at the door to my room. She had seen Mrs. Amaral - briefly - just before she came to me. Seeing how Marianna's mom was dressed, Antonia had feared for my virtue.

- "Thanks." I said.

- "No problem." said Antonia. "I remembered seeing her in the hall, last year. She was asking Nelson who you were. And when I saw how she was dressed, tonight ... "

- "So you would have saved me."

- "From a fate worse than death." said Antonia, with a grin.

In fact, Mrs. Amaral did me an enormous favour.

The following Tuesday, Antonia brought me a coffee before classes started.

- "You owe me." she said.

- "Pardon?"

- "Just remember that I like diamonds, furs, and raspberry cream donuts."

- "What are you talking about?" I asked. She wouldn't answer.

At the end of the day, after our fledgling environmental club meeting, Anna asked if she could speak to me. She was tilting her head, and touching her shoulder.

- "Sure." I said. "What's on your mind?"

- "I owe you an apology." said Anna.

- "You do?" Clever repartee, I know - but I had no idea what she was talking about.

- "Antonia told me everything."

- "I see. Actually, I don't - what did Antonia tell you?"

Anna blushed, and then told me the whole story. On the night of parent teacher interviews, she had met Liz, because the younger Amaral girl was in Anna's class.

Anna was surprised by the way Mrs Amaral was dressed - a bit ... suggestive, she thought. Slutty, even. Then Mrs Amaral had asked her about me.

It was a memorable enough experience - these were Anna's first interviews, after all. So she told the story to the first person she saw the next day ... that is, Anna told the story to the first person she saw that she trusted - which just happened to be Antonia.

- "I saw her throwing herself at Chris." (that's what Anna said)

- "He handled it pretty well, actually." (said Antonia) "He told her that he couldn't meet her outside of school, and that he had a girlfriend. That was clever."

- "That's basically what happened." I said.

Anna blushed. "I said to Antonia: Why is that clever? He does have a girlfriend. That's when Antonia just looked at me. And she said: No he doesn't."

I was a bit confused.

"I'm sorry, Chris. I thought you had a girlfriend. That's what Suzanne told me. When Antonia said that you didn't ... I realized that I had misjudged you."

- "Ah - Suzanne ..."

- "When you asked me to go for coffee ..." said Anna.

- "You said 'no' because you thought I had a girlfriend?"

- "Yes."

- "Would you have answered differently - if you knew that I was single?" I asked.

- "Probably."

- "I'm single, Anna. I said. "I've been single for the past four or five months."

- "Yes." she said. "I know that now."

- "Would you like to go for a coffee with me, Anna?" I asked.

- "Yes."

- "Right now?"

- "Yes."

It was surprisingly low-key, for a first date. We sipped coffee, and talked about the school, the students, and our colleagues. Anna was just as highly motivated as I was. It wasn't just a job, for either of us: it was a vocation.

She was so pretty, up close. I forgot what I was about to say - twice. By the time we said goodnight, though, I was pretty sure that there would be a second date.

I got Antonia a box of donuts, and a pair of little mittens, with fur on them.

- "Sorry I didn't get the diamonds, but two out of three ain't bad." I said.

- "I would have been happy with one doughnut." said Antonia. "This is great."

- "Thank you."

- "You're very welcome." she said. "Now - take one of these, so nobody can say that I ate the whole box."

I took Anna for supper on Saturday night. The following weekend, we went hiking, and to an estate auction - her idea, but it was much more interesting than I had expected. She let me kiss her on the cheek after our third date.

Our sixth date was formal, and fairly expensive. I took her to the best restaurant in town, and went all out. We had a pleasant talk, over very good food, and Anna polished off the better part of a bottle of wine. I drove her home, hoping that it was a Rod Stewart kind of occasion ('Tonight's the Night').

She gave me a kiss - on the lips. Anna was smoldering hot, but that was as far as she would go. I was little disappointed, to say the least.

I went home for Christmas. Steve and Kim were doing well. Very well. We went out for a pint (okay, more than one), and talked about everything. Steve was sympathetic about my situation.

Our favourite pub turned out to be very crowded that night. Ellen and Glen were there.

- "Dude!" said Glen. He was already hammered.

Ellen made more sense. Of course, I asked about Moe.

- "She got married, Chris. Just after Thanksgiving. My parents like Rich, but I think he's boring. And I think she was happier with you."

- "She was never happy with me, Ellen." I said.

- "Don't fool yourself." said Ellen. "She was crazy about you."

I wanted to cry in my beer. "Not crazy enough to wait for me."

- "No." said Ellen. "Not that crazy."

Around midnight, Steve's sister, Sarah, came in. She had been drinking elsewhere - her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were rosy. I was well on my way, too - I couldn't remember, at that stage , how many pints I had consumed.

- "You look down, Chris." she said.

- "I'm an idiot, Sarah." I said. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I thought that wisdom went with age, but ... apparently not."

Sarah laughed. "You're not that old. How about this: you tell me what's got you down, and I'll tell you my woes."

- "That sounds fair."

- "You go first." she said.

It all poured out of me. I was disappointed that Moe was married, and hurt that she hadn't told me about it.

- "You expected an invitation to the wedding?" asked Sarah.

- "No. But ... she could have explained it to me. Or something. And Nina is seeing somebody. I dunno ... I thought ..."

- "That's she'd always be there for you?" said Sarah.

- "It sounds stupid. And selfish. I know."

- "Steve said that Nina is fantastic. I've never heard him rave about a girl like that - except maybe Kim."

- "She is fantastic." I said.

- "So what's the problem?" asked Sarah. "Ask her to move here. Jeez - it's not that complicated."

- "It's very complicated." I said. I told Sarah about Anna. I told her everything. In my drunken state, I might have emphasized the slow progression of our sexual contact.

- "Do you love her?"

That woke me up. It was such a simple, but such an appropriate question. And I had no idea what the answer was.

- "I'm a mess, Sarah. Can we talk about your 'woes'?"

- "Are you sure? That might require another pint." she said.

- "How about a coffee?" I suggested.

In the end, we wandered across the street, and picked up two donairs. We wolfed them down on the sidewalk outside the store.

- "Thanks. I was starving." said Sarah.

Then we went into an old restaurant, and ordered two coffees. The waitress wasn't too impressed, but she let us have a quiet corner.

- "So ... spill." I said.

Sarah shook her head. "I'm a bigger idiot than you are." she said. "I've been in love with the same guy for a long time ..."

- "And?" I said.

- "It's not an 'and'. It's a 'but'." she said. "But ... he's seeing someone. I figured that if it was meant to be ... then it would work out."

- "Destiny?" I said. I was thinking of Nina and me, in York, and the Lake District.

- "Something like that." said Sarah. "Is there an award for worst coffee? These guys should apply."

I was drunk. I shook my finger at her. "Sarah - you're dodging."

- "Of course I am." she said "It's hardly flattering to have to admit that you're seeing somebody because you're scared of being alone. Or because you think that's what you're supposed to do."

- "What's his name?"

- "The guy I'm seeing? Jason." She made a face. "He's alright, I guess. But he has this annoying habit. He doesn't always listen to me: it's like ... he just waits for me to finish. And it's worse when we're out with friends. If I'm the one talking, he tilts his head back, and nods - like he's heard it all before. Makes me want to punch him."

The way she said it made me want to laugh.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked.

- "Sorry." I said. "It's just - the way you described it. I can picture him nodding, and I can see you punching him. It's the kind of thing Moe would do. She wouldn't take shit from anybody. And neither do you."

- "Oh yeah?" She was smiling, too.

- "Remember that time you gave Carol the finger? That was hilarious."

- "She deserved worse." said Sarah.

- "Seriously, though - you need to have a talk with Jason. What he's doing is disrespectful. And you deserve all the respect in the world."

- "I know." she said, a bit more subdued. "I'm probably going to kick him to the curb."

- "You don't have to put up with that." I told her. Or maybe it was the booze talking. In vino veritas. "You're spunky, and smart, and beautiful ... you shouldn't settle for anything but the best. You deserve the best."

I spouted some other fearful nonsense, too. I was just trying to make Sarah feel better. She reminded me of Moe, in terms of attitude. But her looks were more like Nina's: long dark hair, solid build - though not quite so chesty. She was really quite pretty. Except that she was so much younger - and Steve's little sister.

What I said made sense - mostly. I probably should have listened to my own advice.

***

Anna continued to slow play me. We went out, on the weekend - she was just too busy during the week. I understood perfectly. So that meant Friday night - if she wasn't too tired. Saturday night was more likely. But if we did something together on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, then she might have to stay in on Saturday night to prep for class.

I made a big deal about Valentine's Day: presents, chocolates, the card - and then I took her out for a romantic dinner. She was achingly lovely. Anna could look great in jeans and a sweatshirt, but dressed up, with her makeup just right ... wow.