Vanessa took very little notice of anything Ms Cann said. Her attention focussed completely on Rex who had his head down whispering to Ben Tamati and one of his friends. He never even glanced in her direction.
‘Vanessa?’ Ms Cann stepped up to her desk. ‘Are you listening? I asked you a question.’
She wasn’t in the mood, she was far too depressed to deal with her crabby old English teacher, but she noticed Rex and Ben now peering over her way. The opportunity was available to get Rex’s attention and it seemed the best way would be to act her normal self and entertain the class a little.
‘Listening?’ Vanessa said in a pleasant tone. ‘Surely, if I had, I would have answered you and there would have been no need to ask.’
Ms Cann’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m not in the mood for your silliness, Vanessa. The point is I want you to listen.’
‘Well I don’t grant wishes, Ms Cann, but my mother does have some fancy looking bottles at home and one of them may contain a genie.’
Her elderly teacher snapped. ‘I will not have this...’ her voice trailed off and she turned to peer over at Rex who now leaned back in his chair, his arms folded, still facing their direction. He smiled at Ms Cann. She turned back to Vanessa, her voice not quite so harsh, but still with the narrowed eyes. ‘I am sick and tired of your attitude, young lady. You spend way too much time in my classes chatting and mucking around. For once I’d like you just to apply yourself while in my class.’
‘I don’t wear makeup, Ms Cann, apart from moisturiser.’
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’
‘Well you said something about applying myself, so I thought you might mean makeup.’
‘You know that’s not what I meant!’
‘Well, I wish you would be less ambiguous with your statements, especially considering you are an English teacher and we’re just a bunch of uneducated kids.’
‘You know jolly well what I meant. I know you’re not that stupid.’
‘Well I guess that listening to you isn’t all that necessary then, is it?’
Ms Cann turned red and took a deep breath. She glanced at Rex again. Vanessa knew that she was worried about upsetting him, knowing just how protective he normally was of her. However, Rex simply sat there, his arms still folded, a half smile on his face.
Ms Cann returned to face Vanessa and glared. ‘Don’t push me girl. I can put you on detention right now if I want to.’
‘You would put me on detention just because I wasn’t listening?’
‘And for your cheeky attitude.’
‘But Ms Cann, I’ve been nothing but polite towards you. How would that be fair?’
Ms Cann snorted. ‘You think that your sweet tone of voice is going to be enough to get by me? Do you really think I don’t realise that you are mocking me?’
‘I try hard not to, I really do, but it’s difficult sometimes.’
‘Just pay attention or I really will put you on detention.’
‘I’ll try my ultra hardest. Honest.’ She glanced back to Rex, but he once again leaned over his desk talking to Ben. She sighed and started drawing scribbles on her note paper. She drew a little heart with Rex’s name in it and then drew a crack in it.
When class ended, she followed Rex out, hoping to talk to him. ‘Dollbaby... I mean Rex. I...’ She reached him and he turned around. He grabbed her and without warning, planted a big long kiss on her mouth. Her head spun and her heart raced, but then he released her and kept on walking.
‘Wait...’ she muttered. But she had lost all strength in her voice.
For a moment during that kiss, she really thought he’d regained his memory. The two of them used to play a game on a regular basis. Just for no reason at all, give the other a big juicy kiss on the mouth. Part of the fun was doing it at the most inappropriate time at the most inappropriate place. For that brief moment, it seemed like Rex was playing that game, however it was his walking away afterwards without even a smile or a comment that made her realise it was simply a meaningless kiss. He did it no doubt because he could. Perhaps all he wanted to do was shut her up.
‘What did they do to you, Rex?’ she watched, with a deep pain in her heart as he walked away. ‘What did they do?’
‘Hey, Vanessa.’ One of her classmates stepped up to her. ‘Mr Sanders wants to see you in his biology lab.’
‘Oh no. That’s all I need, the creepy Reverend Flanders wanting to see me. What does he want?’
‘Something to do with your biology assignment apparently.’
‘Couldn’t he wait?’
‘No, he wants to speak to you now.’
Her skin crawled at the thought of having to be alone again with her weird biology teacher. She considered not going, just to avoid having his protruding eyes examining her. Who knew what thoughts were going through his mind? ‘Hi diddly hi, neighboureeno,’ she said half-heartedly and headed for the biology lab.
She peaked through the glass panel on the lab door and saw him in there, gazing at a hand mirror and straightening his hair with a gob of spit.
She cringed. ‘Please tell me he’s not doing that for my benefit.’
She sighed deeply, opened the door and walked in. When Mr Sanders saw her, his face lit up. ‘Ah, Vanessa, come in.’
She slowly made her way to the front bench where he sat with a pile of papers in front on him.
‘The reason I’ve brought you in here during your lunch break is that I feel you need some extra tutorage when it comes to this subject.’
‘Why?’
‘Well it’s your assignment. I’m afraid it’s well below grade.’ He smiled awkwardly.
‘You’re kidding, right? I did everything that was required. I read the materials and I double checked all my facts and figures.’
‘Well I’m afraid it’s not up to my standards.’
‘And is mine the only one that’s not up to your standards.’
‘Oh there are some who need to do a little more work, but from what I understand your work is normally of a very high quality so it concerns me that this is so poor.’
Vanessa peered at him through narrow eyes. ‘Do you want to tell me what’s wrong with it?’ She knew she’d put a lot of effort into it and it wasn’t as if it was a difficult assignment. The more she considered it the more this meeting made her uncomfortable.
‘Well it may take some time. Perhaps you’d like to sit down with me and we can go over it now.’
‘Or perhaps not.’
Mr Sanders frowned. ‘You do realise this is an important assignment and one which is necessary for credits?’
‘How about you just write a few notes on my assignment about what needs improving and I’ll take it away and fix it.’
‘I’m offering you some one-on-one help here.’
‘I’m sure I can handle this without your one-on-one help.’
Mr Sanders frowned. ‘I get the feeling you don’t like me very much.’
‘It’s not so much that. It’s just that you kind of creep me out.’
Her biology teacher’s eyes bulged. ‘All I am doing is offering you assistance to complete your school work. Is there any reason to be so disparaging of me?’
‘I’m sorry, Mr Sanders, but I question the appropriateness of you suggesting one-on-one to one your female students.’
‘I’m just doing my job!’
‘Then please, mark my assignment fairly, because I know I did a good job of it.’
His frown deepened. ‘I know what this is all about. You don’t like me because I have strong religious convictions. I know all about you and your mother’s chosen lifestyles. Perhaps some one-on-one Christian counselling would also be of benefit to you.’
‘Well for one thing, Mr Sanders, neither my mother nor I chose to be gay. That is the way we were born. Secondly, if I actually needed counselling for my sinful, immoral behaviour, I certainly wouldn’t want to get it from you. And thirdly, I’m happy with who I am and I’m not going to change
and if you want me to redo my assignment, then hand it over and I’ll take it away and finish it for you.’
Her biology teacher’s eyes burned. ‘You can go.’
‘What about my paper.’
‘I’ll keep it for now. I’m not sure I’m willing to give you another chance to finish it with the attitude I’m getting from you at the moment.’
‘What, you’re failing me?’
‘I’ll have to think about that and I suggest you do the same. Think very, very hard young lady, because I am not a patient man.’
‘Isn’t that supposed to be a Godly virtue?’
‘Do you want to pass this subject or not?’
‘Of course I want to pass it.’
‘Then go away and make a decision. Come back tomorrow and tell me what you want to do. Take up my offer of extra help, or fail this course.’
Vanessa stormed out of the biology lab as fury built up inside of her. How dare he put her in such a situation? He was nothing but a dirty old man and she had no doubt about that now. If she sat down with him for even five minutes, she knew she would be taking a risk. How he had the gall to claim her assignment wasn’t up to scratch and then refuse to give it back to her, astounded her. It was quite clear to her that there was nothing wrong with it. He just wanted to get her alone in the classroom.
Her first instinct was to go to Rex, after all, she shared everything with him, but not being himself and also not seeming to be interested in talking to her, it was not an option this time around. She met up with her girlfriends outside E block and for the first time showed her anger and frustration in front of him. ‘The sleazy little creep!’
The girls jerked their heads up as she marched up and slammed herself down on the bench. ‘I can’t believe the audacity of that jerk!’
‘Nessa, what’s up?’ Holly asked. ‘I’ve never seen you like this.’
‘RRRRRRRRR! That Mr Sanders is threatening to fail me on my Biology assignment, even though I KNOW it is up to standard.’
‘But how do you know it is?’
‘Because I do! I knew all that stuff. It was easy. He just wants to get me alone in his lab and put the moves on me, that’s all.’
‘Are you sure?’ Chelsea asked. ‘He’d never get away with something like that.’
‘Well he obviously thinks he will.’
‘Well when you get your marked assignment back you can just take it to another teacher and complain.’
‘Well he didn’t seem very keen on giving it back to me. I think he’s hoping I’ll come back and take up his offer to avoid failing, but I’d rather fail than have to be in a room alone with him.’
‘Well he has to… you know… give it back, right? Even if it has a fail on it,’ Holly said.
‘I guess. I don’t know. I’m just really pissed that’s all. I’m sick of teachers thinking I’m some kind of cheap floozy just because I’m an extravert and I’m sick of teachers thinking they might be able to get in my pants because of it.’
‘Really? You get that a lot?’ Holly asked.
‘More and more. At my last school one even tried to make a pass at me.’
‘The curse of being adored by all males,’ Chelsea said.
‘It’s disgusting. It’s bad enough when guys my own age act like that, but one of my teachers?’
‘You should report him. Sexual harassment.’
‘He’d just deny it. There have never been any witnesses. My word against his. He’ll be seen as the upright Christian gentleman, and I’ll be seen as the floozie who has no morals. I can just imagine Ms Cann being there backing the guy up. “That Vanessa, she’s a terrible influence on the young girls at this school. She is warping them and turning them all gay. She must be expelled!”’
‘Tell Rex,’ Chelsea said.
‘I thought of that, but I don’t think he cares about me.’ She hung her head. ‘He seems to have changed so much. It’s as if his sense of self control has just been thrown out the window and his social graces are unable to be tapped into. I’m really worried about him. I wonder whether he should really be here. Perhaps he needs to be monitored by a doctor?’
The figure of Rex stepped out from behind the trees and peered over at Vanessa, his eyebrows low. ‘You think there’s something wrong with me? Perhaps what you see now is the real me? Perhaps the Rex you knew put on a façade, one to make him popular. Treat everybody with respect. Help those who need it. Stick up for the geeks. Is that your old Rex? Well this new Rex doesn’t give a shit.’
He smirked and stepped up to Chelsea. ‘I hear once upon a time I took an interest in you, when no one else ever did. Apparently, I saw the beauty that nobody else did. Maybe all I ever wanted was to get into your pants?’
Chelsea’s face dropped and she turned her head away, pain in her eyes.
‘And as for you.’ Rex ran his finger down Holly’s left cheek. ‘It seems I cared deeply for you at one stage. One stage. But you, you would rather stick with a cheating boyfriend whose idea of a good time is spending the evening playing computer games.’
‘You don’t know he’s a cheater,’ Holly said. ‘Mav is loyal to me.’
Chelsea agreed, ‘He always has! He’s a good guy.’
‘And as for you, the goddess…’ Rex paused and gazed at Vanessa for a few seconds. ‘You are so incredibly, drop dead gorgeous, you really are. A guy would have to be crazy not to want to be with you.’
Vanessa felt goose bumps appear over her body. If only he’d take her in his arms and hold her and tell her that everything was going to be fine.
‘You want to know the truth?’
The good feeling disappeared. There was something harsh in his tone, something that told her this wasn’t going to turn out good.
‘Whenever I see you, I get bad vibes. It’s like all I’m gonna get from you is misery. I saw this joke once, a photograph of a beautiful woman and underneath is said, “She may be hot, but someone somewhere still has to put up with her shit.” Yep. I think you’re bad for me.’
‘Rex…’ Vanessa said. ‘That bad stuff, it was all in the past. That must be what’s getting to you. Some memories of feelings. It’s not like that now.’
‘Isn’t it? How do I know? I don’t remember. Sorry, babe. But I’ve gotta go with my gut feeling on this one.’
‘Please, Rex. Give me a chance. You’ll see.’
‘I think I’ll pass. I’ve got some new friends to go hang out with.’
He strode away.