English Is Flammable (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 23

(Shay’s Point of View) (Thursday night at the airport)

“Oh God, I’m going to miss you so much!”  My mom squealed as she hugged me tight while hers and dad’s flight was being called.

“I’ll miss you too.  You’ll call when you land, right?  Let me know you landed safe safe.”  I said back to her as we released, her with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, absolutely, Marie.  Alright, you go say goodbye to your dad now.”  She told me, tearily.  

“Okay.  I love you.”

“I love you too.”  She said, the first tear rolling down her cheek.  Oh, mom.  My dad and I turned to each other and smiled.  We did our handshake thing and looked at each other and burst out laughing.  

“Dad.”

“Shay.”

“Oh, come here, you big idiot.”  I said, launching myself into his arms.  He picked me up and spun me around, both of us laughing like fools.

“I’m really going to miss you, Shay.”  He said, not close to tears, but you could tell he didn’t want to go.  “And just know that if you don’t think you’ll be okay, I’ll stay.”

“No, Dad, you need to go.  Right now, San Francisco’s where you need to be.”  I responded, looking into his eyes, almost getting weepy.

“Alright, love, be good.  Don’t forget the rules we set.”  He said, winking at me.

“Uh-huh, sure.  I love you.”

“I love you more.”

“You know that’s not true, but I’m not going to argue with you so we don’t make a scene in the middle of the airport.”  I said, hugging him one more time.  The last call for boarding the flight was called so my parents scurried towards the entrance of the terminal.

“Be good!”  My mom called.  I waved as they stepped out of sight.  Ah, the freedom.  

(Will’s Point of View)

‘Somebody’s not looking too good.’ - I sent to Shay as she walked into my classroom on Friday.  She was waddling like a duck and grunting every time she took a step or breathed too deeply.

‘Conditioning, need I say more?’ - Shay

‘Nope, I get it now.  You just look pretty funny...’ - Me

‘Is my pain funny to you?’ - Shay.  I looked at her and saw her smirking at me.

‘Only a little.’ - Me

‘Don’t you have a class to teach?’ - Shay

‘Yup.  I should get on with that.’ - Me

“Ms. Shay, texting in class again?  Really?  Haven’t we been over this before?”  I asked, pretending to whine at her.

“Um...No?”  She said, phrasing it as a question.

“Oh, Ms. Shay, you are too funny.  Care to make some more jokes at lunch?  During detention?”  I asked, smirking arrogantly as the class held back laughs and whispered, grinning like idiots.

“Oh, Mr. Coleman, it would be my honor to entertain you with my wit and charm during my lunch period.”  She remarked, biting her lip sexily and cocking her head, saying ‘I win’.

“I am so happy to hear that.”  I responded, winking at her and making the rest of the class let their laughter loose.  “Alright, now that we’ve got that taken care of, who wants to read?”