The Teacher's Aide

Part 8

I began my after school helping Levine arrange the classroom, and working out some lesson plans for the next day, while she was out on her usual after-school errands between the office, the teacher's lounge, and her classroom. I sat behind the desk, wondering what it would be like to be a teacher, and be facing all these kids. I was a bit nervous talking in front of a large group of kids like in this class, or in any other classes. 

I heard the door opening, and I quickly got out of the teacher's desk, and began randomly rearranging papers on her desk. I knew Levine had already seen me scurrying away from her desk, but she didn't say anything, as she had her papers close to her chest, and closed the door, even with her arms full of papers in front of her.

"Oh, thank you." she says, even though I didn't move, or touch any of her papers, that were on her desk. I move out of her way, and sat on a desk that was in the middle of the room, facing the whiteboard. The late afternoon sun shone in at an angle from the windows, through the forests, while the overhead lights lit up the room even more. I felt like I was in detention, even though I've never been in one, and it was just an assumption. 

Though I had a close one back in freshman, when I was late for class. The teacher dismissed it since it was the beginning of the year, and most of us were just getting settled into our new, big school. And the school's layout was far different back than it is now.

She handed me some of the kids' papers to look over, most of which I already knew, especially how the sentences were written, and the proper usages of language context that were contained in the papers. Most of the papers were decent, some were okay, and, others, well, let's just say some of those kids needed a tutor for their homework and research papers for this class. Even I get to grade the AP classes, which meant I get to "scrutinize" Ryo's paper, and to see what his handwriting looks like finally.

And this is the first time I get to see Ryo's actual handwriting, and his writing's perfect. Almost in the style of Japanese calligraphy. But in pen and pencil writing.

He hates typing, though...

The rest of the evening went ok for the most part, except for those times I kept stealing glances over to the teacher, who is my morning 3rd period teacher in this class. She reminds me of Sequoia sometimes, but I knew Levine is much older than she is, and she is a faculty member of this school. Even though I kept my eyes on the papers, I could clearly see she was also looking my way, from her desk, while she wrote something down on her weekly report book. And like Sequoia, she wears those shirts, and somehow, she doesn't get in trouble with the other teachers, or for that matter, the principal, or the school administrators, even though she has other boys in her class that flirt with her during her lesson planning. Or even when she's up there in front of the whiteboard, trying to give a lecture... 

But she was a complete opposite. Now that I'm in her classroom, helping her out with all sorts of paperwork these kids submit them to her. She walked over to where I was sitting, as I graded her papers, and sat at the edge of the desk, careful not to sit on the paperwork I was doing. She pushed her hair aside, and behind, and smiled as she looked down at me, almost in a flirtatious manner. Just in time I saw the strap slip down her shoulder, as she leaned even closer, and put her hand under her chin, making the strap fall even lower.

Whoa! I thought, as my heart began to beat faster.

"You can look. I won't criticize. Or report on you. I'll tell you a secret. It's between both of us." she says, leaning even closer, and moving her shoulder so that the strap fell even lower once more, this time, hanging close to her elbow. She took the red pen I was writing with, and marked a paper with a passing grade, a student I wasn't familiar with.

"I'm not going to be like most teachers here. I'll seduce you anyway I see fit." She says, moving her shoulders in a flirtatious way, then cleared her throat, as if nothing happened, before continuing. 

"Ahem, anyway, he did great, even though we're just starting, but I already gave out homework for some of the other classes, especially the AP writing classes." She says, pushing her hair back. Soon, she got off the desk, pushed her hair once more, but leaving the strap next to her shoulder, as she made her way to the whiteboard, to write out the next day's assignment for all of us, and the other classes.

"Oh, and don't worry. Like I said moments ago, I won't report on you. The principal and school staff already know I dress like this." She says once more, doing a little shoulder flirt again, the one with the strap fallen down, towards me. I swallowed a little, and shifted in my seat, while I saw her strap fall down close to her elbows.

I wonder if her and Sequoia are related? No, that can't be.... She smiled, as if reading my mind, and walked back to her desk, and pushed her hair back, knowing full well I was watching her.

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"See you after class on Monday," Levine says, waving to me as I left her classroom. I waved back to her, as I made my way to the door.

Finally, my day of helping her has come to an end, and I bumped into someone who was standing by the door. His muscles hurt when I bumped into the mysterious person, and I looked up. 

"Hey, I've been waiting for you." Tristan says, holding his books in front of his chest. I quickly grabbed some of the books he was holding, since some were about to drop out of his arms despite how tightly he held them.

"Oh, cool, thanks. I was almost ready to lose it." Tristan says, still trying to hold steady the books, which are now resting over his exposed abs, while his tight shirt barely gave any cover. 

"What are these for?" I asked him. 

"Ryo's the one that wanted these books." Tristan says, and I quickly saw the titles of one of the books. One was in Japanese, and the other was a complex set of mathematics. 

"Lots of kids this year, and it's no different than last spring. Even one boy wanted to ask me out. But I told him I'm taken." He says, gave me a wink, while still lugging the heavy-looking books in front of him. I pushed a strand of loose hair away from his forehead, and he smiled as I did so, and the way he was looking at me, he looked like he wanted to smooth out my hair, which was almost ready to fall over my right eye. I quickly gave a swish of my hair, and Tristan looked a bit saddened when I did so.

"Are we still going to that party this weekend?" Tristan asked, his voice sounded excited, but he was trying his best to hide it as much as possible, even though I could see it in his eyes.

"Yeah, we are." I tell him, adjusting the books I'm holding between my chest and arms. Soon, I saw we were the only two kids wandering the empty hallway, except for a distant sound of a squeaky mop bucket somewhere deep in the school.

Except maybe I don't think we're the only kids here...

We finally met Ryo in the library, as he looked a bit sleepy, his head resting on his hand, and his eyes were almost closed, but I could tell he was watching us as we approached his table. Tristan and I set the books in front of Ryo, and he sat up, before letting out a big yawn in front of us, and Tristan gave out his, while I was almost unaffected, though I could feel it come.

"So, how was your first day with the teacher?" Ryo asked, stretching while at the same time, sitting back straight up in his chair, and cracking his back. Tristan felt uncomfortable as Ryo cracked his back as he twisted himself in his chair.

"It was okay." I tell him, trying to get the image of her and Sequoia out of my head. We put the books on the table in front of him, and he began to go through some of them.

"Rae's got me beat in that Calculus class today. Hopefully, this will get me to his level." Ryo says, looking at an advanced-looking math book. Like I said, he and Rae are the best of friends, but they still compete with each other since the day they met last year. And Ryo being Japanese, he wants to be better than Rae, but I'll admit, Rae's a lot smarter, a lot smarter than he looks. But soon, we all noticed Rae wasn't even in the school, so we all assumed he went home after school had ended.

Even Ryo was looking for Rae, even though we were sitting in the library, and I knew Rae wasn't the kind of guy who would hang out in the library, either...

Neither does Ryo, and he hates typing, as all of us get started on our homework in the library.