Part Two

Ben had only met Marlee on a Wednesday, but the very next day after a long workout and a jog around his neighborhood, he started to get ready to go somewhere. There had been a sticker in the back window of Marlee's car that said Orlando High School Teacher. All he had to do was look up the address and all he had to do was drop by.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, Ben?" He asked himself.

He stood at his open door, hand on the doorknob and keys in the other hand.

What was he doing? He was going to go look for a woman that he had met the day before but why? What could he possibly say to Marlee that would make her think he wasn't following her like some stalker? He didn't even know what she taught, only that her name was Marlee Haskill. And that she had sunburn corn colored blonde hair down to her waist. He felt his mind slipping into that lustful state he hadn't seen in a while. Ben shook himself of the thoughts and went with his first plan, just find the school.

He didn't have far to drive, about ten miles or so. The school in question was in the rougher part of Orlando, it had several levels and it was fairly empty. He pulled up closer to the front doors and got out, making sure to lock up and set his car alarm.

Ben walked into the building, earning glances from students as they were leaving. The main office was near to the doors and he went in.

The older receptionist looked up when he approached the front desk. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, please. I'm looking for Marlee Haskill, I believe she is a teacher here."

"And why are you looking for her?"

The lie came out, something his mum would have frowned at. "I helped her with purchases yesterday at the market and I accidentally took some of her food by mistake. I remembered the sticker on her car so I thought I would look here."

"Well she is the ballet club instructor and they are practicing right now. But I don't see why you can't go in and explain the situation to her." The woman smiled. "And it is after school, so you don't need a pass. You're such a good man for doing that for Marlee, with how everything is going right now."

He smiled regardless how her statement sounded strange. But she told him where to go, a small gym that was designated for the special needs class for when they did their physical education. It was on the main floor at the far end of the grounds. Ben was more than capable of finding the gym, there were signs up for those to follow. More kids were in the hall, though none approached him they did stare. Ben shoved his hands into his slacks, curled his fingers of his right hand around his keys as he turned down another hall.

At the end of this hall was a double door that was propped open and the melody of a piano filtered to his ears. As he drew closer and peeked through the open door, he saw her hair first, resting just at her backside as she twirled. Her hair danced like a curtain around her as she spun in one spot, arms and legs doing a pose like a ballerina in a jewelry box.

Kids lined the walls, some with obvious disabilities like down syndrome and other physical problems. Some looked normal, others had adults with them sitting down and pointing at Marlee.

She was amazing to watch as her body movements matched the motion of the music. Ben found himself leaning against the door and watched her dance up and down the length of the room, a smile on her face the entire time. She had a smile, on the made Ben smile, as she did her spins and twirls for the class to see.

At the end of the song, she slowly twirled to a stop and the class clapped for her.

"That is just a little of what you are going to do with the other class. When we get together next week, we'll work on our places in the show with them." Marlee told the class.

"What do we say to Ms. Haskill?" One of the women asked.

The class chorused together, "Thank you, Ms. Haskill."

"Mar," one of the children said.

Marlee smiled and walked over to the stereo to turn off the song that came on next.

Ben walked away and waited until everyone in the classroom had left. None of them seemed to notice him leaning against one of the windows, children talking about what their teacher, Ms. Haskill, had showed them and the stuff that she had taught them. Marlee stayed after to talk to a few of the parents that had something to ask.

"Are you sure Jenessa is ready for a performance?"

"She has been excited for the last month and a half since the regular club asked me about it. They think it would be good and wholesome for the kids like Jenessa to participate. And Jenny is very happy to be in it." Marlee said.

Ben smiled when hearing how Marlee was so sure about whatever was going on. She said her farewells to the child that was playing with a Barbie dressed like a ballerina and they left.

He caught her reaching for the duffel bag that was next to the stereo. She may have been small but she had a great presence about her that made him realize she really was a good person.

As she stood up and turned, Marlee jumped when seeing him.

Marlee felt her eyes widen when she saw him leaning against the door to the gym. Ben Satterley from the previous day was standing there, leaning against the door to the gym and he was smiling.

"I, uh, what...I mean." She stammered trying to figure out what to say to him. "Hi."

He smiled. "Hello. I'm sorry for showing up like this, Marlee." He said.

"How did you know where I worked?"

"You have a sticker on the window of your car."

"And you decided to find out where I work? Why?"

"To be honest, I don't know. You just seem different, that's all I can explain. You were amazing, dancing like that."

"Oh," she glanced at her hands. "Thank you."

He didn't move from the door, essentially blocking her from leaving because the other door was closed. His hair hung loosely over one shoulder and he was wearing some casual looking slacks with a black button up shirt, unlike the day before when they first met.

"Is this a regular occurrence?" Ben asked.

"I teach children ballet. I have this ballet club for special needs students and a three times weekly ballet class elsewhere. I love children. Especially in this neighborhood." She said.

"Speaking of children, how is Jake doing? Is he enjoying the figure?"

"He loves it. He couldn't stop talking about you to my sister, his other aunt, Megan. To say that she's a fan is an understatement. They were talking about your win loss ratio, and how statistically speaking you have a better shot at the IC Title. You'll have to excuse me, I don't know what any of that entails."

He smiled through a laugh. "No worries, Marlee. I'm not offended. It's good to hear that I am still appreciated by the fans."

"I have to get going, I'm the one that picks Jake up from school today."

"Of course. I can walk you to your car if you'd like." He said as he pushed away from the door.

He waited for her to gather the stereo off the nearby chair. Marlee made sure to turn off the lights and as she walked up towards Ben he moved back so that she could get through the door.

"Do you only teach ballet?"

"No. I teach freshman math for IEP students."

"What's that? IEP, what is it?"

"It means Individual Education Plan, for students either with learning disabilities or those that have a hard time with math." She said.

"Is there a reason for you to be teaching special needs children?" Ben asked.

She felt the sweat start to tickle her neck. She reached back and wiped at it as she tried to think of an answer. "If you hadn't noticed, I don't have a normal nephew."

"He seems shy to me."

"Jake has got autism, which is a social disorder where making eye contact is hard, keeping engaged in a conversation will cause him to have issues. There are varying degrees of it, his is what is called Asperger's."

She looked at him. This was where he was going to leave, he would start walking and never turn around to look back at her. Instead Ben seemed to be looking hard at the floor, his brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed.

Then Ben looked at her. "I see. From what the mother of an autistic fan told me, was that they have intense fascinations with things, people or the such like cars and trains." He said.

He knew that? She bit the inside of her lip, glancing him over.

She nodded. "Yes, that's right. Jake is in an obsession over wrestling right now. Him and my sister watch Raw and SmackDown, NXT and that purple colored program, you'll have to excuse that part because I don't know what it is."

"No excuse needed, I don't mind. The way the company treats it as an afterthought is the reason why I left in the first place. Under utilizing its talents, putting the mid to lower card superstars in a place and not using them in the main show. That was the reason for me to walk out for the most part." He said that in such a deeper tone, glaring at the black and white floor tiles as they walked side by side towards the main office.

"I see." She said, not really anticipating that speech to happen in the middle of a high school hallway.

He lightly touched her elbow. "I'm sorry, Marlee. I shouldn't have unloaded all of that on you. I guess I needed to say something, because even the friends I have don't understand what I went through. And you're easy to talk to."

"Thank you, Ben. I can understand your problem. I guess we are going through similar issues. School cuts, like cuts in teachers' salaries have been tough, I've taken to having to do private ballet classes just to add some money to my pockets. A lot of the teachers here are taking up part time jobs just to make it through the year."

"Now I see how it was for my instructors back home in England. We've both been thrown into a loop we can only hope to escape from some day."

"Where are you from, you said England. What part?"

"Newcastle upon Tyne, a small river city in the Northeast of England. It's rather pretty there, hills and such. Are you originally from Orlando?"

She shook her head. "Las Vegas. I started my ballet career there, doing dance for casinos with a troop and everything. Then we moved around a lot. My father was in the military."

They talked about small things, like family and friends. She didn't give away too many details about her life with her sister and Jake but she did offer that Jake was in their joint care. She heard about his life in Newcastle and his love for wrestling growing up, compared to his 'mates' who all wanted to be professional 'football' players. Marlee made a mental note to look up British words so she didn't act stupid around his quirky word uses.

Outside, Ben walked her to her car. She was thankful that it wasn't the height of summer or else breathing would have been harder to deal with. Thankfully her hair was still up in a ponytail to give her neck some air.

He walked her to that beat up Nissan of hers, which was parked a few spaces from his shiny Prius. Ben didn't go to his car straight away, opting to stand outside her door as she slid into the driver's seat.

"Tell Jake that I said hi." Ben said.

She turned the key and nothing. The car didn't start up. Marlee turned the car key over several times but there wasn't anything coming on. It was like the car had been dead.

"Oh no." She turned the key again but still, there was nothing coming on. No lights, no sound, just an audible click.

"Nothing?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. It's been acting up a lot lately, I think it's the starter and I can't afford to take it to a mechanic. I have to go pick up Jake."

"I'll take you." Ben said. "You can call a breakdown truck to get it to your place. I'll pay the charge."

"Ben," Marlee started to say. She stopped back he walked around, leaned across her and unbuckled the seat belt. "What are you doing?"

He took her elbow and pulled her out of the car. She grabbed her keys before she was guided out of the car. "You need to pick up Jake from school. Does he like you to be late?"

"No."

"I didn't think so. So grab your things and get in my car."

Even if she didn't have an alternative option. Jake did like to get picked up on time when he had his after school class. The only reasons why he didn't take the regular bus was because of the bullies, which seemed to be persistent when she talked about it to his school.

Marlee sat in silence in Ben's too fancy car unless she had to tell where to go. He didn't say about the tow truck that she had called to pick up her car. And besides the directions to Jake's school, they didn't talk.

Soon they were in the partially filled parking lot of Jake's school.

"When I have my after school classes, Jake has his own. It's an art class."

"I didn't know primary schools had after school activities."

"We're trying to have inclusion of special ed students. Jake has issues with kids, he's more of an adult so he has a harder time with kids his own age. But he does like art. So there is an art after school class that he attends when I am doing my after school class. Sometimes I bring him to my other job."

"The regular ballet class?"

"Yeah, but I teach ballet and acro-dancing to quote regular kids."

Ben got out of the car and followed her into the school. The security guard didn't ask who Ben was, even if he had never been there before. Down the hall from the main office was a classroom marked ART on the door and she walked in.

Her nephew was sitting by himself at a table. Sitting on the table next to him was his Neville action figure.

Here's is Part 2 of 3. I hope you guys liked it.