What if I ain't no violinist?

91. Twoset Teachers IX (Luscious Lashes 2)

Art teacher Eddy's Year 10 student Edwina's caterpillar-like fake eyelashes phase went on for the rest of the week and beyond. Eddy honestly couldn't tell if they were getting any bigger or not as he could no longer tell when things were so overdone. He would not dare say anything negative about them so he was glad Edwina didn't raise the subject with him. She must have thought he was too much of an old geezer to appreciate teen beauty and Eddy was perfectly fine with that.

As his favourite colleague Brett, a science teacher, had predicted, Edwina's fake eyelashes eventually seemed to have reached some kind of endpoint in growth.

"Brett, I think you predicted right. I think Edwina's lashes reached what you called an equilibrium."

"Oh. Hmm, actually, let me correct myself, I think the phenomenon is better described as reaching a plateau rather than equilibrium."

"Huh? What's the diff ?"

"Well, an equilibrium is a dynamic state. It would mean that at any point in time Edwina's fake eyelashes would be growing and shortening all the time."

Eddy cringed.

"Ok.. that is definitely not what I've been observing.. in fact, if it was like that, it would be bloody scary."

"Indeed. So she still likes them super big, like caterpillars, does she?"

"Yeah."

They were just enormous as far as Eddy was concerned and he wondered how on earth Edwina could keep her eyes open, let alone see through them. The only time Eddy was able to see Edwina's eyes were on Thursday mornings when she was practising netball with her teammates. Eddy thought she looked radiant in her natural beauty. As he walked past the netball courts, he would dread seeing Edwina in his art class later in the day, knowing that her face would be caked up with makeup and large caterpillars would be stuck onto her eyelids.

But Eddy knew better than to say anything to Edwina about them, he'd learnt his lesson by once saying the wrong thing to his sister when he was younger, when he criticised his sister's makeup - she kicked Eddy in the shin and shouted at him;

"Don't flatter yourself, I ain't doing this for you."

Belle, his sister was too right. Edwina was doing this for herself to find what she thinks would make her look beautiful and so Eddy's opinion was completely irrelevant. He learnt his place thanks to his sister and so he definitely wasn't about to voice an opinion, especially a critical one.

With a mug of coffee in each of his hands, Eddy approached the table in the teachers' lounge where his colleague Brett sat. He gently put down the mugs on the side of the table where Brett didn't have his pile of test papers spread out.

"Brett, how's your marking going ?"

Brett kept his eyes on the paper at hand as he replied.

"Nowhere. I feel like it's never gonna end."

Eddy smirked.

"Sucks to be you.

"Ugh, so how come you're not frantically marking your stuff?"

"We not doing art history exams this term for Year 10s.  I'm only marking their practical work.  Much more fun."

"Ugh, not fair."

Eddy chuckled.

"I was like you 2 weeks ago when I was marking my Year 9 papers."

Brett took his eyes off the paper he was looking at and shifted his gaze to one of the coffee mugs on the table."

"Is that for me?"

"Yes."

"Oh my god thank you, I was about to lapse into a coma."

They sat in silence for a while they enjoyed the first few sips of their hot beverage.

"So.. how're Edwina's eyelashes?"

"They're still there. The big ones."

"Hmm, hopefully, some natural selection will occur soon."

Eddy looked confused.

"Oh my god what do you mean by that ?"

"Y'know, her environment will choose if those eyelashes are practical and helpful for her. If she benefits from them because of an enhanced social life or a boost in her confidence, for example, she will probably continue applying them. But if there is not much benefit in wearing them and they become too much a hassle to make it worth it, she'll stop. Here, it's right here in my Year 10 science exam. This question."

"Oh my god is this Edwina's paper?"

"Oh, so it is. I wonder how she went with this topic.  Yep, she actually got full marks for it."

"What does that mean as far as her eyelashes are concerned?"

Brett looked at Eddy and grinned.

"I don't think it means anything in that regard... it just tells me that she is a good understanding of evolutionary theory."

Eddy sighed.

"I guess I just have to wait and see how things pan out."

A/N: This concludes the duology of Luscious Lashes within the Twoset Teachers series.  Hope you enjoyed the story!!