Turnabout
He was a man of science; a professor at a small high school in Texas, which seemed light years away from his childhood in England. He was a man who could find ease and humor in anything. He was a man of intelligence, who had been keeping the biggest secret in his own world: he could turn invisible. Nothing took him unawares, and at 35, with a wife at home, nothing seemed new.
And then she walked into his lab room. Her skin was smooth and glowing; for she had an inner fire in her that he had never seen in anyone before. Her blonde curls were rather messy around her face, as if she hadn't cared or bothered to do anything with them in the morning. He liked that; no muss no fuss. All the students quickly filed in, taking their seats, pulling out their notebooks to take notes on the chemistry experiment. A knock on the door jarred him, and he turned to see the vice principal standing there.
"Dr. Raines? We have a new student at school," she handed him the new class sheet, with a new name on it.
"Meredith Gordon?" He asked, looking right at her. She smiled at him as she stood.
"I just transferred from Dallas." She said simply, her southern accent lilting her voice. He was absolutely amazed by her. How could someone have so much beauty and presence at 15?
She became popular enough, being easy to get along with and exceptionally pretty. She had a keen interest in science and biology, so she was in his lab more than most students. He always had trouble breathing around her. Thoughts of her distracted him at home when his wife would smile at him, handing him a home cooked meal. He would half listen to her millionth talk about wanting children, and he couldn't help but wonder how comfortable he was with morally gray.
Meredith didn't understand herself why she liked Dr. Raines class so much. As she walked down the hall, ignoring all the cute boys trying to talk her up, she couldn't help but think about how his hair was slightly floppy and how he tried pushing it behind his ears when he explain molecular reconstruction. He wasn't particularly attractive, but she liked to stare at his refined nose, wondering if all men with crooked noses were intelligent. She herself wasn't the smartest in the bunch, and being just a southern girl, she knew she was given to flights of fancy…
She dreamed about sharing her secret: she could control and create fire.
They would discover each other's abilities within the same hour that day. Claude has been a professor of science at the high school for 8-years, Meredith had been a student at the high school for 2 months. They felt like they'd been skirting around their attraction since the second she walked into his lab.
"Bunsen burners today, class!" Claude called out as he entered the lab from his office.
"Awesome! Um, what are we doing with the eggs on our desks, Dr?" An eager boy asked.
Claude held up one that was hardboiled. "Oh, you're just going to find out the different chemical properties of eggs fresh and hardboiled."
"We're working with fire…" Meredith said quietly to herself, looking up quickly. Claude caught her eye, giving her a concerned look to match her own. She quickly shook it off, and then turned on the burner.
No one knew what happened, and if you asked anyone in Dr. Raines' sophomore chemistry class in the years to come, they probably wouldn't remember anything significant about that day in class. Ten minutes into the session, her lab partner's burner flared up fast and hot. A second before it could've burned anyone, she has quickly put her hand over it, extinguishing it, turning the knob with her other hand in a swift motion to make it look like it had been done first.
Claude saw exactly what she did. A half hour later, school was over, and the snowy February day had sent everyone home. Everywhere was empty, except for an invisible man and a fire starter, who were still at their desks, staring each other down.
Claude sighed as he leaned into his desk and stood up. "Are you going to tell me what really happened, Meredith?"
She looked scared. "Are you going to tell anybody, Dr. Raines? Am I going to get in trouble?"
He leaned against the edge of her desk. "Why? What is your secret?"
She looked away, guiltily.
He gave a small smile. "You aren't the only one with secrets, Meredith. I've never shared mine with anyone." She looked at him curiously. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."
She propped her arm on her desk, and leaned her face against her hand, pondering what fate she might stumble upon by fulfilling her dream.
Slowly, she moved her face from her hand, slowly brining up her thumb. With no hesitation, a flame suddenly appeared out of it, as though it were a candle.
Claude took it in stride. He gave her a little smile, suddenly realizing why he was drawn to her. He leaned down and blew out the flame from her finger. Their eyes met for a moment. Not saying a word, she took his face in both hands, and they shared a long, deep kiss.
Ten minutes later, the two of them were a tangle of clothes and hands and hair falling around their shoulders, and panting, and Claude wondered if he was dreaming as he could've sworn sex never felt this good, and Meredith knew that none of her school mates had any idea what they were talking about as she reveled in his weight on top of her. They had a hard time with the zipper on the back of her uniform skirt, so Claude shifted, with Meredith riding astride him, his hands pushing her skirt up, almost reaching her bellybutton.
As she moved on top of him, she felt that fire that had always remained contained, sweeping through her and enveloping the two of them on the floor. She didn't know it could become so intense. It burst through and around her, and somehow she knew Claude felt it too, as his legs went into a spasm beneath her and his hair got damp from the heat and sweat.
It seemed that all at once, every Bunsen burner flame lit.
Footsteps echoed along the long hall outside. Meredith and Claude laid on the floor together, naked and warm, only a few flames still lit, two slowly dwindling out.
Meredith sat up quickly at the sounds, looking at Claude in horror.
"We're going to get caught! I'm going to be kicked out! You are going to be fired!" She looked at him frantically.
He sat up, kissing her forehead. "Don't worry, they won't even know we're here. Dress quickly, if they come through that door, you have to be touching me."
She quickly buttoned up her shirt as she nodded at him.
"Dr. Raines left something on in his lab. There's light coming from it."
Meredith couldn't ignore the panicked look on her face as she turned to Claude. He gave a calm smile and signaled her to be quiet as the door opened. The two English teachers shook their heads in dismay over Claude's negligence, and turned off the last three burners. They then walked out of the door, closing it behind them. Claude and Meredith sat in silence as they heard them walk away.
She stood up quickly, throwing her sweatshirt on in the sudden cold. "Are you going to tell me what happened? Is this your secret you're going to show me now?"
He stood up, not saying a word, just smiling at her. He slowly faded out and back into existence. Her jaw dropped, amazement crossed her face.
"Oh, my…God help us if I get pregnant." She said.
He just gave a small chuckle. "Some family, eh?"