By: CNJ
PG-13
6: Teacher Trouble
Mary Anne:
I checked the bathroom mirror
one more time. Nope. The stain from my tattooed purple flower was still
on my cheek. Using soap, scrubbed at my cheek until it felt tender and
was red, but no luck. Oh...great! I thought. Swell, cool...great. I sighed.
Just then, I heard giggling and behind me was Cokie Mason with Toni Marks.
"Oh, Mary Anne,"
Cokie gasped. "Did some senior beat you up?"
Then she and Toni dissolved
into giggles. again. I didn't know what to say. Looking in the mirror,
it did look like someone had slugged me on the side of my face.
"No," I told her flatly.
"It's a tattoo." With that I spun on my heel and left the bathroom. Getting
into homeroom, I dug idly through my purse.
"Ooo...Mary Anne!" Leigh
Raxer stared at me. "Did somebody hit you?"
"No..." I felt my face redden.
"It's left over from the Halloween bash..." Leigh looked puzzled. "See
I was dressed as a hippie and painted this purple flower on my cheek and
some of the paint is just...stained on my face."
"I see..." Leigh tried not
to laugh as she sat. Just then Stacey came in, wearing a huge baseball
cap with her hair tucked under. I stifled a giggle. Stacey is not a hat
person.
"Why the hat?" I whispered.
"Want to know?" Stacey lifted
it a little and showed my the green of her normally honey-blond hair. Oh,
I mouthed in sympathy. "I'm sooo embarrassed!" Stacey whispered. "Green
hair for a week or two! I just wanted to be Ms. Liberty on Friday, not
for weeks."
"Some people are going to
think I got punched," I whispered back, showing her the purple stain on
my cheek. Stacey nodded. Our post-Halloween embarrassing marks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Ms. Brauman says, Are
you sure this calls for that or hovers over my shoulder in our home
"eck" class one more time, I'll scream! Logan and Claudia are in the class
too. Good thing or I'd go crazy. I don't like confrontation, but Ms. Brauman
is a control freak and it's getting on my nerves. I think she senses that
I don't like to cook. Well, things were about to take a turn for the worse.
We'd brought in recipes for any kind of fall dish. I'd written Grandma
and she'd sent me a wonderful recipe for a broth with vegetables in it.
Well...I don't think Ms. Brauman liked it. She looked at Verna's recipe,
then down at me, making me feeling like an ant on the floor.
"What kind of broth is this
with peas and squash in it?"
"It's from my grandmother...from
Iowa," I told her feeling kind of defensive.
"I see..." she nodded, then
kind of said in a low voice,
"Midwest..." I hoped she
wasn't insulting my grandmother or she and I were going to have a few words!
And I did....after class.
"Ms. Brauman..." I called.
"Were you putting down my grandmother?" I asked her in a low cold voice.
"No, I wasn't, Mary Anne,"
She was tall and peered straight down at me as if I were an ant on the
floor. "Your homework didn't seem very well thought out. Maybe you weren't
clear to your grandmother or she misunderstood you, being from a different
part of the country..."
"I'd appreciate it if you
left my grandmother's background out of this!" I snapped, growing angrier.
"Ex-cuse, young lady,
but you are out of line!" Ms. Brauman glared at me. I clenched my fists,
deciding whether to continue this battle. "I must tell you, your assignment
in this class haven't been exemplary and I don't like your mentality in
this class."
"Oh, I know." With that,
turned and fled from the room, angry tears welling in my eyes, knowing
that I'd blown it. All of my life I'd never had any trouble with
teachers and had made mostly A's. And now thanks to this stupid class,
it was probably wrecked! "Damn..." I muttered, walking fast down the hallway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think Sharon and Dad sensed
that I was upset that night at dinner. Sharon stroked my hand, pulling
my hand away from my mouth. I hadn't realized that I'd been biting my nails.
I noticed I'd been biting them several times this year again. Thinking
of the fight with Ms. Brauman bought tears to my eyes.
"Care to talk?" Sharon asked.
Dad looked at me with concern also. I shrugged.
"Did you have a fight with
your friends?" Dad asked.
"No..."
"Logan?"
"No..." I wiped away a tear
that had spilled down my face. "Actually, my home ec. teacher."
"What?" Sharon asked. Taking
a shuddery breath, I told them about the horrible scene in the class. "I
kind of acted stupid..." I was bawling hard now. "I felt like she was insulting
my grandmother and got so mad at her and picked a fight with her."
"Sounds like you and Ms.
Brauman clashed in style." Sharon told me.
"Think I should go talk..."
Dad wondered. Sharon shook her head. So did I. Now that I was here at home
and talked about it, I could see how I'd contributed to the problem. I
think Ms. Brauman felt that I was attacking her.
"I think I can handle this..."
I told them. "I...don't think I did well in the class. So don't be surprised
if I bring home...not a good grade." I shuddered. I just hope she doesn't
decide to flunk me.
"Keep it up..." Sharon gave
me a comforting hug. "We know you're a good student. And this class is
one semester only." I nodded, feeling better.
"Who wants dessert?" Dad
asked. I did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I sort of apologized to Ms.
Brauman for yelling at her. She accepted, although she didn't apologize
for her part. "So you see where you were out of line," was her response.
"Accepted." I bit my lip, determined not to get into any more trouble with
her for the rest of the semester. I ended up with a C- in the assignment
and the class. My first bad grade. I felt my face flush.
"It could have been worse,"
Claudia whispered.
I nodded, but muttered,
"Damn..." under my breath. Cokie Mason flunked and she gave a noisy disgusted
snort.
"Ex-CUSE ME?" Ms. Brauman
glared at her.
"Nothing!" Cokie slouched
down.
