"Good morning sir."
"Good morning Edwina, how are you today?"
Eddy replied to his Year 10 student's greeting while he still had his eyes on his computer screen, but quickly stopped reading and looked up to face his student.
"Hmm. Edwina, you look a bit different today."
"You think so, sir? In a good way or bad ?"
"I think you look nice but I can't tell how you're different."
Edwina gave a shy smile.
"I'm a bit dense with these things. I'm sorry if you actually had a 30 cm haircut and I haven't noticed. I've been slapped by my sister with that one before."
Edwina giggled.
"Don't worry sir, it's not the hair."
Edwina smiled and walked towards her friends without telling Eddy what the change was.
Eddy shrugged as he watched Edwina reach her girlfriends. Upon her approach, they all looked at Edwina and squealed.
"Ooooh Edwina, they look great~~!!!!"
"You look sooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuute!!!!"
"Brett, you should've seen her friends' reaction. Their response time was 0.001 seconds."
"Well Eddy, at least you noticed there was some kind of change?"
"Yeah, but I felt pretty stupid not knowing what the change was. So, you think you can you enlighten me?"
"What, me ?? How would I know?? I have absolutely no idea!!"
"Well you're no bloody good use for me then are you?"
"Humph."
Brett pouted indignantly.
The next day Eddy was in the teacher's lounge doing some paperwork.
Brett approached his table with two mugs of coffee. Eddy noticed his approach and looked up.
"Brett, for me?"
"Yah, I thought I'd try to be a bit bloody useful for ya."
"Oh my god Brett, I was joking about that yesterday!!"
Brett grinned.
"Yeah, I know."
"Thanks for this man, gosh I so needed this, I was about to lapse into a coma."
They sat in silence for a while as they enjoyed the first few sips of their hot beverage.
It was Eddy who started the conversation.
"...So Brett I had my Year 10 class again today."
"Oh yeah? And that student of yours?"
"Yeah, her name is Edwina."
"Good morning sir."
"Good morning Edwina... Hmm.. you look different again."
Edwina giggled.
"Yes, I changed it a bit."
"It must be a subtle change?"
"I suppose so, if you haven't noticed what it is, sir."
She smiled and turned around to walk towards where her friends were. Again, they all squealed as they saw her.
"Aaaagh Brett !! What do girls do??"
"I dunno, a whole range of things us blokes have absolutely no idea about, I guess. Why are you asking me?! Maybe it was a different shade of lipstick or something."
"Hmm... I think if it was an unusual shade of colour I would have noticed...."
"Yeah, you were good with colours. ....Maybe she got new earrings ?"
Brett was just about to take another sip of his coffee as he heard his colleague speak. He raised his gaze to give Eddy a quick glance as he listened to him.
"I dunno Brett. It's just that if it were her earrings I think I would've noticed them"
"Hmm... I suppose you have a point there.."
Brett slowly closed his eyes to take the next sip of his coffee.
"Look, Brett, I think... OMG."
Eddy's mouth hung open, his facial expression in awe as he leaned in forward towards Brett.
"What?"
Alerted by Eddy's exclamation, Brett opened his eyes and was surprised to see Eddy's face leaning in towards him so close.
"OMG Eddy, what are you doing ?"
"Sorry, I was admiring your eyelashes."
"What?"
"Your eyelashes... they're so long."
"Really? I never noticed."
"How can you not notice ?!"
"What? Just how on earth am I supposed to notice...."
"Oh my god it's the eyelashes !!!"
"I bed your pardon?"
"Brett !! It's the eyelashes!!"
"What the.., what's with the sudden obsession with eyelashes?!"
"Edwina! She's done something with her eyelashes!!"
"Huh?"
"They were getting denser and longer. I wonder how she did that..."
When Eddy arrived at school the next day, he walked along the oval and noticed Edwina and some other Year 10 girls practising netball. It must have been their scheduled practice day for the school netball team. Edwina looked different in her sports gear, her hair up in a ponytail and without any makeup on, including the fake eyelashes. (Eddy googled them the night before)
That same day when Eddy saw Edwina in class, he noticed the change was no longer subtle. They were outright ridiculous. It was such a shame as Eddy honestly thought Edwina looked quite attractive the first few days when she made the change when he hardly noticed. She must have carefully "constructed" her look after netball practice as she now looked like she had attached two black caterpillars on her eyelids along with a ton of makeup that was caked onto her flawless skin. It was difficult to keep a straight face looking at her.
"Good morning Edwina."
"Good morning sir."
That day back in the teachers' lounge:
"Oh my god Brett... why do they have to overdo things???"
Brett burst out laughing.
"I think she will eventually reach a suitable equilibrium."
"Oh my god that is such a science teacher thing to say."
"Humph."
"I mean.. she is an attractive girl.. she has a... nice... symmetrical face. People that young look so nice and fresh. Why ruin it by sticking humongous caterpillars on their faces !?"
Brett chuckled.
"An attractive symmetrical face. There's no mistake you're an art teacher Eddy."