THE TEACHER

Chapter twelve

"I saw Ms. Bennett and Ms. Brooks get here together," murmured the student, getting closer to her friend.

"Again? It's been all week... actually, I'm pretty sure they have been doing this for some time already," she whispered under her breath.

"You know, now that I think about it Ms. Brooks hasn't worn her engagement ring in a long time... maybe something else is going on," added a third girl, holding her books. "Ms. Bennett might have finally found someone..."

The bell rang, putting an end to all the gossiping that Abby was so interested in and signaling to the students to move to the dining hall.

From the meeting with Mrs. Lingerman, Melissa and Abby had tried to be as discreet as possible, but people were starting to catch up. They would still talk a lot and have the same schedules, coming and going with the same car, and whenever one of them was mentioned, the other immediately put all her attention into the conversation.

"They're catching up," sighed Abby, barging in Melissa's classroom to eat her lunch.

"Who is?"

"The students. There are rumors about us, and a possible relationship we might be in. I heard them, all over the hallways."

"Based on what?" scoffed Melissa.

"Everything! When you're in love with someone you can't deny your true feelings, and hiding them has been awfully difficult," cried Abigail, already freaking out. "If Mrs. Lingerman finds out that we haven't been cautious enough, she'll definitely fire me. I can't be fired! I'm young, and I'm sort of smart, and I've worked my ass off for years to get this job, in this school. If she fires me, all those years of hard work will go down the drain!"

"Honey, calm down," Melissa cut her off. "You are smart, and we all know how much you've wanted this, so don't worry about getting fired because it won't happen. Not now, nor never. Even if Mrs. Lingerman found out that the students have been talking about us, I think she'll be clever enough to understand that they're all rumors, and that we had nothing to do with it. If anything, we've only been more careful since that meeting."

Thinking about it, being fired for something without any proof was idiotic, but Abigail still wasn't completely sure that the principal wouldn't have had suspicions.

She sighed and let herself fall down on a chair, slowly starting to eat her lunch in complete silence, staring at an indefinite point in front of her.

"It'll be fine," ended the conversation Melissa, taking out her laptop to work. "I promise."

"Thanks."

"You know what happened before? Tina and Jess have invited me out for dinner tonight. It's so weird."

"You're gonna go, right?"

"I think so... we used to be close, we all started working here at the same time, but then they got married, had kids, and I stayed behind. I guess it wouldn't hurt to go out with them once."

"I'm proud of how far you've come, you shy girl," chuckled Abby. "Now put on some music, please."

Tina and Jess were already sitting at their small round table, waiting for a very nervous Melissa to show up. The three of them had been friends for almost twenty-five years, going to the same college together, but they hadn't got together in a long time. Jess had gotten married first, two years after getting her job in the high school, and Tina followed soon after. In a few years, they had had kids, and their time was split between work and family, leaving very little time to put into their longstanding friendship.

"Hi," nervously smiled Melissa, approaching them. "How are you?"

"We're good! How are you? We work in the same school, but it doesn't really feel like it," exclaimed Tina, the eldest.

"Fine, just a little nervous. We haven't done this in a long time."

The topic of the conversation quickly moved to families, kids, husbands, and gossip, with the three women finally catching up on their lives after years of barely talking to each other.

"Mel, we've talked about our families and relationships, but what about you? How are things going with Abigail?"

Surprised that the word had reached them as well, Melissa's eyes widened for a moment, while she tried to figure out what she could say without compromising her job. The fact that some people still knew that she and Abby were together surprised her nevertheless, after having to hide it for months.

"Good, good," she nodded repeatedly. "We're living together right now, and it's going very well."

"I never thought you'd end up with a woman. Any time we'd bring up the subject, you'd say that your wild times were over, and college had passed," noticed Jess. "What changed?"

"I guess that Abby is just a special girl."

"Oh, please, you've used that same phrase when you were dating a guy," rolled her eyes Tina. "We want honesty."

"If I do tell, you have to promise to not say anything to anyone," replied Melissa. "Mrs. Lingerman wants us to keep this quiet."

Seeing Tina's and Jess' heads moving up and down in agreement, the black-haired teacher sighed and started telling the truth about her feelings for Abby.

"I don't why, but she has always been very appealing and interesting to me. She's a strange girl, in the best way, with great charm and a very intriguing mind, and I guess it was enough to catch my attention. I've got to admit, I was surprised to feel such strong feelings for a woman, since up to that point I'd only had strictly physical relationships with them, but it was nice."

"What does she make you feel?" curiously asked Tina, looking for more gossip.

"She makes me feel comfortable and cared for, and of course very joyful. I love being around her, because she just transmits to me such strong, happy feelings that I could forever be upbeat if it was for her. She has been very patient with me and my clumsiness in dating, and has taught me some very important lessons that people two times her age failed to pass onto me," she answered. "I think we've both saved each other in some way, and I'd like to think that our problems have only brought us closer, and made us fall in love as a reward for being able to get through them."

Once she stopped talking, silence fell onto the table; Melissa thought she had just made fun of herself, but Tina and Jess were smiling at their friend proudly.

"Sorry for yapping."

"Don't apologize. It's nice to hear you say these things, you've never said anything like this for anyone. You really must be into her," replied Tina.

"I'm hopelessly in love with her, even if I realize that if I wasn't everything could be much easier."

"Who cares about easy? The important thing is that you love each other, the rest will fall into place by itself," Jess shrugged her shoulders. "I think you'll have a bright future together."

"I hope so."

The Big Bang Theory had been going on for almost thirty minutes after Abby had fallen asleep, but despite the loud noise coming from the TV, she couldn't be bothered to turn it off. The couch was way too comfortable, and she had finally found the perfect way to wrap her body in her cozy blanket – a Christmas gift she had received from Melissa.

All of the sudden, while she was in the middle of her very desired regenerating nap, the phone started ringing loudly on the coffee table, waiting for its owner to pick up and answer the call.

"Hello?" she asked, with a husky voice and her eyes still closed.

"Abby, it's your father," said Gloria, on the other line.

"What about him?"

"He's in the hospital... you need to go see him."