Summary: Carlitos Escutia is a psychologist who moved to Japan from the United States, seeking to try something different in life. While she is working to become certified to practice psychology in Japan, she got a job as a Spanish teacher at Meiou Academy, a prestigious school for kids whose families had money or smart enough to pass the entrance exam. Seeing as how she is already busy with psychology and work, she puts out an announcement for an after school helper to take some of the workload off of her shoulders and to help with tedious tasks. What she didn't expect was the most popular, well-liked, and possibly the smartest kid in school, Shuichi Minamino, to walk into her classroom and offer her the help she needed. Nor did she expect to get closer with the boy after each day they spent together. Escutia knew that she shouldn't be getting this close to a teenage boy not just because of moral implications, but possibly legal. Should she break the rules or stay away?
Rated M for drug, alcohol, and sexual themes in later chapters.
"Miss Escutia?"
Brown eyes darted up and scanned the room to finally rest on the slim figure of a Japanese lady. The lady stared at her with a smile of warmth and friendliness, a smile that she returned. Miss Escutia gathered all of her belongings and rose from her seat, walking swiftly and gracefully over to the lady she was just staring at.
"That would be me," Miss Escutia replied to the woman's earlier question.
"Well, Miss Escutia, I am Mrs. Arakawa, the principle here at Meiou Academy."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Arakawa," Escutia responded, bowing to the woman.
"Likewise," Mrs. Arakawa bowed back, although not as deeply. "Please follow me back to my office, Miss Escutia."
Mrs. Arakawa opened the door for Escutia, who took the cue and went in first, stopping a short ways down the hall to wait for the principle. After a few moments, Mrs. Arakawa caught up and took the lead, leading the way down the hallway and past some desks of higher ranking staff within the school. Soon, they arrived at a short, narrow hallway that hosted three doors, one on each face of the wall. Escutia made out which office was Mrs. Arakawa's, which wasn't hard because of the lettering on the window of the door.
Mrs. Arakawa lead her down the short hallway and opened the door to her office, entering it first before holding the door open for Escutia. Escutia uttered a small thank you before taking a chair and settling down at the request of Mrs. Arakawa. Escutia looked at the desk of the principle, which was currently a mess. Papers were everywhere and a tall slim container of what Escutia only hoped was oatmeal, lay the middle of the mess.
"Oh, dear me, excuse the mess. I was just looking over paper work while on my lunch break," Mrs. Arakawa laughed, Escutia could sense the awkwardness in her laughed and smiled reassuringly. "Give me a moment, if you will, to clean up before we start."
"Oh, no, take your time," Escutia responded sweetly, earning a smile from the woman.
It was at this moment, Escutia took the time to survey the lady and her surroundings. Meiou Academy, from what she has seen so far, was a nice and well kept school. You can tell Mao is a high end private academy just by walking into the lobby. The office of the principle was nice, slightly messy, but nice. A big bay window adorned the left wall of the office, letting in plenty of natural light. The office was carpeted with dark blue carpet and had a smooth ceiling and white walls. Beautiful paintings of the beach were posted around the room.
Escutia looked over at the principle's desk, two corner pictures sat at each end adorned by small outlaying picture frames. The desk that was previously a mess, has been cleaned up, papers stacked neatly and nicely, and her, hopefully oatmeal, lunch was put away. Escutia's eyes them moved from the desk to the principle herself, Mrs. Arakawa.
Mrs. Arakawa was beautiful, now that Escutia really looked at her. Even though she is in her early-to-mid thirties, she had a youthful appearance. Mrs. Arakawa appeared to be lightly toned and slightly taller than Escutia herself. Escutia, however, couldn't help but notice her big brown eyes and perfectly clear pale skin as well as the smile she always seemed to hold on her lips. Escutia was beginning to wonder if this woman only had one emotion; happy.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Escutia," Mrs. Arakawa spoke as she took a seat in her chair.
Escutia waved it off playfully. "You're fine."
"Okay, let me see here...," Mrs. Arakawa trailed off as she opened one of the drawers towards the bottom of her desk. "Things have been hectic lately with all that is happening right before the school year."
"I understand," Escutia responded. "I was looking at some pictures posted on your walls, you seem to really like the beach."
"Hmm?" Mrs. Arakawa looked up and around the room. "Oh yes, I absolutely love the beach. Most of my family trips have been to places with beaches," she laughed lightly as she set some manila file folders on her desk.
"Is there anyway I can ask where without being intrusive?" Escutia spoke innocently.
Mrs. Arakawa laughed. "Of course, I don't mind," she said as she leaned forwards onto her desk. "Let's see, I have been to Rio De Janeiro, Barcelona, and Sydney among st others."
"Wow, I've heard they are popular travel destinations among st tourists." Escutia responded.
"They are, believe me," Mrs. Arakawa smiled. "Okay, let's get down to business."
Mrs. Arakawa looked down at her stack of manila folders and began to thumb through them, silently reading the names written on the folders. After a what seemed like a while, she finally pulled a folder out of the stack.
"Miss Carlitos Escutia?"
"Yes."
"Alright, just making sure," She said as she grabbed the rest of the manila folders and placed them back in her desk.
Mrs. Arakawa opened the folder with Escutia's name on it and quickly scanned through the papers placed in it before grabbing a pen from the top drawer of her desk and leaning back in her chair, crossing her legs as she did so.
"So, Miss Escutia, let's start off with you telling me a little about yourself. Your full name, your age, and background; where were you born, where did you grow up, schooling, degrees and certificates... I'm sure you get the gist of it."
"Yes. My full name is Carlitos Escutia, I am twenty-one years of age, and I was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. I lived in Mexico until I was twelve then I moved to the United States. There I resided in Arizona, finished high school and then went on to go to Arizona State University before transferring to University of Arizona for my post graduate degree." Escutia paused after she said this, letting everything sink in to the woman's mind.
"I see, tell me about your degrees, certificates and qualifications."
"I have a PH.D in psychology with minors in sociology, biology, mathematics, and health sciences. My degree is accredited by the American Psychological Association, of course, and I am licensed by the state of Arizona to practice psychology individually."
"Wow, I am impressed, to have achieved too much already at such a young age," Mrs. Arakawa said. By the expression on her face and the tone of her voice, Escutia could tell that she was shocked, impressed, and seemingly joyful at the same time.
"Why thank you." Escutia responded.
"Of course. So tell me, do you know any other languages besides Spanish, English, and Japanese?"
"Yes, in addition to that, I also speak fluent German, french, Mandarin Chinese and I am currently in the process of learning Italian."
"Smart and talented I see. How remarkable." Mrs. Arakawa smiled. "So tell me, why would you choose to give up such a promising career path to teach high school students?"
"Well, I am not completely giving up psychology completely. In addition to working here, if I get the job, I will be dabbling in the community a little, so to speak."
"Could you elaborate more on that?"
"While I'm not giving up psychology completely, I don't mind the occasional invitation to lecture at institutions of learning, attend events, or even working on the weekends. While I loved my job, I feel like I need a change of pace, something much less time consuming and at a slower pace. If teaching goes well for me I might make the transition completely, but I will always be a part of a psychological community."
"I see, what field of psychology do you study in?" Mrs. Arakawa asked as she wrote down information on one of the pages with a pen she grabbed out of her desk.
"I specialize in clinical psychology."
"But..." Mrs. Arakawa trailed off.
"But I am knowledgeable in many fields of psychology and in addition to working in clinical psychology, I also study and help with research in plenty of fields." Escutia responded.
After Escutia finished speaking, a lull in the conversation formed as Mrs. Arakawa read some papers within your file. After a few minutes, however, she looked back up at Escutia and opened her mouth to speak again.
"I am going to ask you a few hypothetical questions. These are mainly based on imaginary scenarios so do your best to answer them."
"Alright."
Mrs. Arakawa read off the question to Escutia, who immediately shot back a response, surprising Arakawa, who, after her initial shock, simply smiled and read the rest of the questions off to Escutia. After each question, a response was heard almost immediately from Escutia. It went on like this for a while, Mrs. Arakawa asking questions while Escutia answered. After fifteen-to-thirty minutes Mrs. Arakawa was finished and leaning back in her seat once more, elbows resting on the arm rests of her chair and legs cross over one another as she fiddled with the pen in her hands.
Escutia could see her eyes scanning over the pages she had in front of her, reading the information and the words she had written herself on there. After a few minutes of sitting like this, Mrs. Arakawa looked up at Escutia and smiled lightly.
"So suppose if I were to extend this job offer to you, would you accept?"
"Yes," Escutia responded.
"You will be here on time, every day, and not miss many days throughout the school year, yes?"
"Indeed."
Mrs. Arakawa paused again, sitting silently almost as if she was processing everything in her mind before she looked back up at Escutia once again and opened her mouth.
"I have one last question for you."
"Yes?"
"If you accept this job offer, are you willing to accept...other teaching positions in addition to your own?"
"Do you mind telling me a bit more?"
"Meiou Academy is a prestigious school, we are always sponsoring, hosting events, and what not. We are always looking for ways to keep kids interested in their education, i.e adding more electives and courses for our kids to take that could pique their interests, such as Spanish and other foreign languages."
"So you are asking that if the opportunity arises if I am willing to teach another or more subjects in addition to what I'd already be teaching?"
"Yes, exactly."
"Of course."
"Good," Mrs. Arakawa sat up in her chair and smiled brightly. "Congratulations, Miss Escutia, you got the job."
A small smile played across Escutia's lips and she thanked the principle. Within moments, Escutia had her possessions within her arms and was bowing to the principle.
"Would you like me to walk you out?" Mrs. Arakawa asked.
"No, it's fine. I remember the way," Escutia responded as she walked out of the principle's office.
"Alright then, have a nice day."
The last thing Escutia heard was the sound of the principle shutting her door behind her as she made her way out of the school building. It was a nice and sunny day, so nice she might have to sit outside for a while. The thought brought a smile to Escutia's lips as she walked over to her car parallel parked on the side of the road just a little ways down from the school entrance.