The Wright One

ALEX

My afternoon class seems to be going fine. But I am not understanding Luna. She seemed to be totally open to Isabelle, but I can’t get her to participate at all in class. It’s like she is shut off and ready to crawl under her desk. How is it that Isabelle can get her to talk and I got nothing.

Felix raises his hand. “Why the heck do we have to learn this anyway? It’s not like we are ever going to need it.” He seems to want to flick the paper packet back at me rather than do it.

I roll my eyes. That is the most common argument I get a year. “Because it builds character. Your struggles make you who you are.” I smile.

He just rolls his eyes at me. “Yeah, whatever.” I’m actually surprised he hasn’t started making paper airplanes out of it.

I point to Luna. “Luna, can you name me one time where math might be helpful in life?”

She just shrugs at me. Not a word. I sigh, a little frustrated, but not that upset, this is every day for me. “Ok, anyone else?”

Gabe answers. “How about calculating how many minutes left of this class.” This gets him a laugh from the rest of the class.

“Ok, not exactly what I was looking for, but it works. You have to use math right?” I am asking Gabe directly now since it was his suggestion.

Gabe shrugs, “Yeah, but it’s basic. I don’t have to solve for X to do it.”

I point at him to make my point. “You don’t think you do because you aren’t looking at it the right way.” I head to the board and start writing out the problem. “It’s eleven forty five now, class is done at one. So you need to find X to know how many minutes are left.” I write it out on the board, but they still look at me like I am an idiot. They could just count the minutes.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

I turn back to the blank faces looking at me. “Look, even basic math at one point was hard. The more you do it the more basic it becomes. You wouldn’t know how to multiply five times six if you didn’t practice it.”

James slumps back in his seat. “Ms. Wright makes it seem more interesting to learn. This is like just do the packet and see ya later.” He looks depressed about it.

You have got to be kidding me. Now my students are comparing her to me. I guess if they were saying I was the better of the two it wouldn’t be such a slap in the face, but no they are saying the kindergarten teacher is better at my job than me. “Well, anyone can teach history.”

Nathon chuckles. “Not the way she teaches it.”

I roll my eyes. “What the heck does that mean?” I am getting a little tired of Nathon this morning.

He shrugs. “She makes it make sense. Like why we should learn it. That it matters. I don’t see how this matters.” He flicks his packet of papers too.

Lily rolls her eyes. “You’re only saying that because you think she is hot.” Count on her to counter Nathon.

He shakes his head. “No, I’m not. I mean she is hot, but the point is she knows what she is doing. She had us talking about the second amendment in like two minutes. Did you know if we didn’t take a stand that we would be British. That is some messed up crap. I mean they don’t got nothing on us, but they thought they could run our country from across the ocean.”

“Yeah, so, everyone knows that.” Lily scoffs.

“Did you know that is why we have the law that says we have the right to have guns. It’s so that if our government gets out of control again we have a way to revolt. It’s not just for protection against the drug dealer down the street.” Nathon says, like this makes his point. I guess it is in a way.

“Did I walk into history class, I thought this was math.” I try to get my classes attention back on me.

Nathon turns back to me. “I’m just saying she makes it relevant. I haven’t heard you do the same.”

I sigh. “Alright, you want to be relevant? How about this? You are playing a football game. The score is twelve to twenty one. You are losing, how many points do you need in order to win. Then how many touchdowns do you need to get?”

Gabe rolls his eyes. “How do you even get twelve points in a game?”

I chuckle. “Easy, you miss the extra point kick twice.”

James laughs. “Sounds like you need a new kicker.”

“You should also factor into your answer that your kicker probably isn’t going to make the extra kick again.” I add.

Luna raises her hand. I point at her, thankful to get something out of her. “There are several answers based on the outcome of each touchdown. You need at least two touchdowns to win, that would put you at twenty four points if the kicker doesn’t make his goals. Or if you are going for just kicks then you could have to do three, I think. I think that ties it up. But if your kicker isn’t making the extra point then you shouldn’t rely on him to make those.”

I nod. “Yes. Thank you. Finally someone gets it. You have taken into account all the variables and made an educated decision based on that.”

Luna blushes and buries her head again. Well, shit. I finally got her talking and now she is gone again.

Shaily raises her hand. “Ok, so say that math is relevant. How are you going to make it interesting enough for us to learn it?” She is one of those kids that doesn’t participate because she thinks she is smarter than the teacher, yet she is here.

Some days I wonder why I became a teacher. Because the rest of my class went like that. Basically being told that Ms. Wright is a better teacher than me and math is not important.

At the end of class there is a sight for sore eyes at my door. “Hey, Teach what’s up?” One of my favorite students is at the door. Kyle is the star quarterback of our team and an all around good guy. He causes some trouble, but what boy doesn’t. He mostly keeps his nose clean.

I put my hand out for him to clasp so we can do one of those manly hugs. You know not a full embrace but a bit of back slapping. “What the heck are you doing here?”

He smiles. “My boys got summer school, I’m making sure they get to practice.” Suddenly his eyes shoot to the student standing next to me.

It’s Luna. She is trying to actively make herself smaller. “Um, here is the packet Mr. Saxon. Do I have to keep coming?”

“Yeah, until the class is over.” Her face falls further.

“Oh, Ok.” I swear it’s like the longer she stands here the shorter she gets.

“I’ll grade this and get it back to you. Remember they all have to be correct and you need to show your work. I don’t want just googled answers.”

“I know.” She says in a soft whispered voice.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yes, Mr. Saxon.” Suddenly she is sprinting for the door.

Kyle looks at me and his face is unreadable. “Um, I’ll be right back.” He takes off after her.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I follow them out to the hall. Why was she running? Why did Kyle run after her?

When I look out in the hall I see Luna frozen with Kyle’s hand on her arm. “Can’t we talk?” She shakes her head. “You just disappeared, what the hell happened?”

“Nothing.” Her voice is a whisper. “Can I go now?”

This just looks as strange as possible. Kyle can get any girl on campus, I have seen the girls throw themselves at him. He never shows any interest though. I thought maybe he was just focusing on football, but this seems odd. Maybe they were friends or something.

“Luna, what the hell? You can’t just ignore me.”

Ms. Wright comes out of her room. “Oh, there you are Luna. I was waiting for you.”

Luna turns to her with relief. “I’m coming.” Her voice is even louder.

Kyle doesn’t let go of her arm though. “Luna, we were talking.”

She tugs on her arm. “I don’t think there is anything to say.”

Ms. Wright folds her arms in front of her chest. “Is there a problem here?”

I decide to step in for Kyle before she tries to rip him apart, because that is what is looks like she intends to do. “Kyle was just talking with his friend that he hasn’t seen in a while.”

Kyle adds to it. “My girlfriend, that disappeared.”

Luna’s eyes look like the size of plates. “What?”

Ms. Wright isn’t accepting that. “Is Luna aware that she is your girlfriend?”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Of course she is. Right baby?”

Luna is frozen again and doesn’t say anything. Ms. Wright continues. “Luna, did he ever ask you to be his girlfriend?” Luna quickly shakes her head.

Kyle doesn’t like that. “Yes, I did. In the library.”

Ms. Wright has had enough. “Oh, so you figure if you force a kiss on a girl after teasing her for months that she is just going to roll over and be your girlfriend? Let me guess, you are the quarterback.”

Kyle glares at her. “Who the hell are you?”

What got me is that he didn’t deny kissing her like that. “Kyle, maybe you should let go of Luna’s arm.”

He looks over at me with sorrow. “Teach, I just want to talk.”

“I understand that but it doesn’t look like she is ready to talk to you.”

I can tell he is reluctant, but he lets go of her arm and she runs to Ms. Wright, wrapping her arms around her. She glares at Kyle. “I suggest you keep your hands to yourself. If I catch you putting your hands on her again without her permission I will turn you over to my brother. He can be here in under five minutes.” She continues to glare as she goes into her classroom, shutting the door behind her and Luna.

I sigh. “Alright, Kyle, come in here, let’s find out what the hell happened.”

Kyle looks the most defeated I have ever seen him in the entire time I have known him. He’s going into his senior year, so a few years. He comes into my classroom and plops down at the desk in front of my desk.

“Alright, start from the beginning.”

He sighs. “Alright so maybe I fucked up.”

“Can you try to explain it without the language?” I add. I don’t really mind, but we are on school premises.

“I kind of noticed her at the beginning of the last school year. So September. Anyway, she was this cute little nerd girl. A little shy, but smart as hell. You know how the other guys are, they picked on her a little bit. Well, I kind of teased her too. Not too bad, but maybe a bit much. She had enough after a month and she stood up to me. She told me to stop it. Well, after that I told the guys to leave her alone. I started flirting with her. At least I thought she would take it that way. Maybe I came on too strong or something. I don’t know. Then I found her one afternoon in the library. We were talking and I kissed her. She got upset. She said that she didn’t want that and she would tell everyone about it if I ever did it again. I was mad and told her that no one would believe her. I said more mean things. Then I didn’t see her again until today.”

It is taking me a minute to process all of that. He did force his kiss. But it’s just because he is confused. Not that it was a good thing. He definitely shouldn’t have done that. “Kyle, did she ever seem like she wanted you to kiss her?”

He shrugs. “I thought maybe she did. I felt like I was tackled with a helmet to the gut after she pushed me away.”

I nod. “So you got mean, because you were hurt.”

He nods. “Yeah. What should I do? I haven’t even looked at another girl all year. I really like Luna. But now she won’t even talk to me.”

“Have you apologized?”

“I can’t. She was just gone, I don’t even know what happened to her. Then she just showed up here. That is why I ran after her.”

I nod. “That didn’t exactly sound like an apology. It sounded like you were maybe forcing a relationship on her.”

He groans. “I know. I was confused, I guess. I was excited to see her. Confused about where she had been. Upset that she was running from me. Angry that she wouldn’t talk to me. Just a lot of things.”

I lean forward a little. “Here is what you will do. I will arrange with Luna and probably Ms. Wright since Luna feels comfortable with her, for you two to have a talk. You are going to apologize and talk this out. I don’t want you forcing anything on her. Do you understand me?”

He looks up at me. “She is a Wright?”

That is what he got out of that. “Yeah, and a pain in the ass. So do you want to apologize or not?”

He almost jumps out of his seat. “Yeah, of course I do.”

“Meet me here after school tomorrow and I will have it all set up.”

Now Kyle does leap out of his seat. “That would be awesome Mr. Saxon. Thank you.”

“You still have to mean what you say. And if after the apology she doesn’t want to be with you, you will need to accept that.”

He looks a little sad at the thought. “I understand. It will be hard, but I get it. I can’t force her to be with me.”

“Good. Now go kick your own ass on the field. This year counts.” I warned him.

He just smiles. “Oh, I know. My old man has been on my ass for months. I didn’t really have an off season.” I have been working out all year. I am ready for this.”

Now, I just have to deal with Ms. Wright and get her to listen to me for five minutes.