Paul McCartney Is My Teacher

Hello, Goodbye

"That was soooo weird..." Gail and I were clutching our sides as we walked to our next class.

"I know, I just wanted to get through college without ever having to hear a teacher say something like that." I laughed. Tanner was doing what Tanner does, walking behind us and shaking his head.

"I'm not really a fan of text abbreviations," Gail leaned close to me and whispered. "But sometimes I think we should make a shirt for him that says 'smh'." Oh, the accuracy.

"Well, what class do you guys have next?" I asked. Gail pulled out her schedule and Tanner began searching his pockets.

"I don't know, I lost my schedule." He admitted.

"On the first day?"

"I'll just pull it up on my phone." He scanned the hallway for teachers and took a few quick swipes on the screen of his phone.

"Darn. Spanish." I laughed.

"Haha, I opted out of that this year." I bragged. He glared at me. "Aww, I'm just messing with ya."

"I have Geometry." Gail read from her schedule.

"Aw, we don't have next period together." I groaned. "I have Honors Art."

"Lucky you, you have two specials in a row." Gail complained. Specials were what the more fun extra-curricular activities were known as, such as music or art.

"Actually," Tanner stated matter-of-factly. "I'd rather have a more balanced schedule." I silently agreed.

"Well, looks like I'll just have to deal. See you at lunch?"

"Yeah, have fun in art." Gail said. I nodded and we went our separate ways.

It took me at least a minute o find the art room (I followed the smell of sawdust and pastel). I walked in and the teacher was a short man with little hair and a no-nonsense expression.

"Take your seat, you are late. Should this not be the first day you'd have detention." Well, this class was off to a great start...

There was one open seat in the back at a desk of three. I settled down in it, it was right between some kid I didn't know and my sister (not really, but we are so close that we say so).

"Hey Rhode." I hugged her, like we normally did as a greeting (don't judge). "Did you change your hair again?" She grinned slightly.

"Yeah, you like?" She poofed her auburn (dyed) almost-pixie-cut and struck a ridiculous pose.

"I love."

"Thamos, serstiar." She replied. She was speaking in our secret language, Prudenmaelish. What she said was, 'Thanks, sister'. Prudenmaelish is a mix of our Beatle identity nicknames (BINs), hers is Dear Prudence and mine is Maggie Mae.

"Nada De." That's 'You're Welcome'.

The art teacher, who's name was something I won't even attempt to pronounce, I'll just call him Mr. Miser- 'cuz he's grouchy an mean like the heat miser in "The Year Without A Santa Claus"- droned on and on about art principals and some other art related things. But mostly 'classroom etiquette' and 'behavioral expectations'.

Mr. Miser had this weird accent that was a mix between British and Scottish. He said 'class' like 'clahsh', and 'behavioral' like 'beeharviorhall', just as an example.

"So class, today you will be designing covers for your art scketch books. Base it off of the hobby or liking that dominates all your others. There is so much room to be creative on this project, and I cannot stress how important creativity is." His face got redder as he continued to rant. "I want to see effort. You may begin. And one more thing: I will not answer any questions." The class groaned, including me.

Rhode didn't make a sound. "You're so indifferent." I told her. She nodded, smiling proudly. I laughed and rolled my eyes.

I sighed as Mr Miser passed out the paper, walking around the weirdly arranged classroom with a slouch and a scowl.

"I have no idea what to do." I admitted to Rhode. I turned to the kid next to me- I think he went to a different middle school than me, I'd never seen him around anywhere before.

"Hey, that looks pretty cool." I told him. He was drawing this surreal image of what looked like strands of yarn knotting and intertwining.

"Uh...thanks." He replied. He seemed shy.

"You like to knit?" Rhode asked. She was being curious, not mean, but sometimes her attitude betrays her real intentions.

He looked down at his sketchbook, embarrassed.

"She didn't mean it like that..." I told him, and he smiled a little bit. "You know, my dad knits."

He chuckled. "I uh, weave actually."

"Oh, that's cool." Rhode commented, trying to recover from her earlier statement.

He nodded again. "I'm Derik." He told me, and extended a hand.

"Winona." I said, shaking it. "And this is Rhode."

"Hi." Rhode said. "Well, let's get started."

I was still drawing blanks.

"Get it? Drawing blanks?" Derik let out a high pitched laugh at his own stupid joke.

By this point, I at least knew that I wanted to do something Beatles-related. I sighed in frustration as Mr. Miser passed out sheets of blank paper- sulking around the room with a slouch and a scowl.

I finally got an idea and I explained it to Rhode and Derik. "I'm gonna do illustrative representatives of a bunch of Beatles songs. With some words, too."

They agreed that it was a cool idea, and I got started right away. A strawberry with an infinity sign, an octopus surrounded by flowers, street signs that read 'Abbey Road' or 'Penny Lane'. A truffle, a weeping guitar, a window.

"Yes!" Derik whispered. "He left." Rhode and I looked up and saw that Mr Miser had indeed left. He was talking to another teacher, whom I couldn't see.

I peered back down at my work, not really caring about the whereabouts of Mr Miser. I felt someone's presence behind me, but I ignored it. It wasn't until Rhode started snickering that I looked up.

I took a sharp intake of breath and almost fell out of my chair in surprise. Paul (I currently refuse to call him Mr McCartney) was inches away from me, just watching me draw as if he was casually watching television.

"What in the name of Sgt Pepper-" he backed up and held his hands up with mock defense.

"Sorry, Winona. Was only looking." He left without another word, just chuckling to himself.

"He is such a weirdo!" I told both Rhode and Derik. Rhode and I had talked about the whole Paul McCartney is our music teacher thing earlier, and yeah, it's pretty weird. But this is extra weird.