Falling Fast

Chapter 15 - If you tell anyone I will castrate you

“Hi, Alejandro,” Jill smiled to him.

Ok, this guy did not look Spanish at all.

“Ah, call me Ali,” he said. “I’ve never even been to Spain. Hi, Zoey. Going out after this?”

“Yeah, my friend throws a party every year,” I nodded with a grin. “You?”

“Nah. Masks terrify me. Normally I don’t leave the house. I made my younger brother drive me over.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” I admitted.

He laughed. “No need to look contrite about me not celebrating. I never really saw the point anyway. I mean, all people do is dress up, kids beg for sweets and annoy their neighbours.”

“You just broke my world man.”

He and Jill laughed. I was about to launch into a history of the traditions of Halloween going right back to when it was celebrated as a pagan ritual, but then Grigory walked in with a lady in a chocolate brown skirt suit and matching brown hair which looked too perfectly curled to be real. We all settled down talking of either going to parties, the parents amongst us saying they were glad they were able to work their way out of trick or treating this year and glad that they didn’t have to answer the door to bratty kids.

“This is my boss and the head of department, Carolyn Harper,” Grigory said.

I looked sharply at the woman. She looked harmless enough in her suit, flat shoes and understated make up. But I also knew that yes, the hair was a wig, and that she could quite easily say Grigory wasn’t good enough to teach here.

“She’s going to be observing a few of our lessons over the next couple of weeks.”

“I’ll just sit over here,” she said and walked over to the empty space next to me. All the better for watching her.

After that Grigory got the lesson underway with his usual gusto and let us loose to practice speaking with one another after about half an hour. Before I could turn to Jill, Carolyn asked if she could ask me a few questions.

“Shoot,” I replied.

She smiled. “How well do you get on with him in a student-teacher capacity?”

Before I blurted something stupid out my brain informed me that now would not be a good time to tell her I fancied the man and he was the best candy out and about tonight. “Factor in to that, that he’s also my next door neighbour…” I shrugged. “He’s fair, goes through everything very well, gives us all help when we need it. One of the best teachers I’ve ever had.”

She quickly glanced at my uniform. There were no logos or anything on it, but she got it right in one. “St. Chris’s?”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

She nodded looking pretty impressed assuming that as a student at a language school I knew what I was talking about when I said he was the best foreign language teacher I’d ever had. I was glad she didn’t ask any questions because that would require a lot of explaining which I really did not want to get into. “Does he give you any extra help outside of class? It is quite convenient for you that he’s your neighbour.”

I shook my head. “I try to not take advantage of it. If I can’t decipher my own writing I pop over and ask him, sure. But I don’t ask him to go over anything with me. Maybe it’s pride, maybe I should ask him. He probably would help if I did ask, but…” I shrugged. “The only thing I get out of it is writing I can read. If he’s asking for directions somewhere, or if he’s asking what all the fuss around Halloween is,” yes he had asked that, “I get a cup of tea.” And laughs that made me all light and bubbly inside I didn’t add.