"Do you get enjoyment out of students berating their parents?"
Sydney had just finished grading her last test and was beyond startled at the cold female voice that had boomed into her classroom. She turned in her seat and looked at the voice's source. A woman with badly dyed reddish hair was all but stomping from the doorway to the front of her desk. "I'm sorry?" she said, confused.
The woman looked at her, obviously sizing her up. Sydney noticed this and stood, happy that each day she came to school she had a special someone whose eye she always wanted to catch. Unlike the woman in front of her, who was in jeans and a slightly oversized coat, Sydney was quite put together. Her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, her bangs staying where there were supposed to for a change. She had just touched up her makeup and was wearing properly fitting gray chinos with a dark red sweater. "Not exactly what I was expecting," the woman mumbled. She then returned to her earlier rant. "Like I already asked, do you get enjoyment out of…"
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Sydney asked, interrupting.
"Celia Gardner, Susan's mother," she answered sharply.
Sydney did her best to keep her eyes from going wide. This was the ex-wife who had the nerve to berate Nathan? Who was trying to push him "off the wagon?" First she wanted to punch her, then she wanted to…well, that wasn't going to help anything at the moment. She really looked at her for a moment; aside from the dye job, she wasn't an unattractive woman by any means, though she could tell right away that Susan took more after her father. She wasn't an overbearing presence and Sydney couldn't help herself from wondering how she could push Nathan's buttons.
"You have some nerve!" Celia spat, her voice venomous.
"Excuse me?" Ah…okay, makes more sense now, she's a shouter. Anger welled inside her instantly, but she knew she had to be professional. "What exactly is it that I've done that proves I have 'nerve?'" "You encourage your students to say whatever they want about their parents with no consequence!" Okay, more of a shouter than I initially thought she'd be. Sydney did her best to compose herself and thought through the best way to handle this. She took a noticeably deep breath before she started. Then she realized she hardly wanted to address her as "Mrs. Gardner" – it stung her a little. Huh…how 'bout that? "May I call you Celia?" The woman rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Good enough for me. "Celia, a lot of the assignments in this class are designed to do two things: strengthen the writing skills that most teenagers are beginning to lack and let them express themselves without any worries about ridicule or…" "You're not even her real teacher," Celia interrupted, seething. Sydney clenched her jaw for a moment before retaliating. "I've been here since November and will continue to be here until the end of the school year. I'm as 'real' a teacher as anyone else here. However, I think the true heart of the matter is that…" "You've read what she's said about me! You gave her an A on a paper that pretty much called me a bitch!" And had I known what a nut job you seem to be, I would have made up something higher than an A. Deciding to play with information she already had, she asked, very innocently, "Did Susan show you her paper?" "What?" "Well, I expressly made that assignment one that only the student and I would see. It wasn't to be peer graded or shared in class, so…did Susan show you the paper?" "That is none of your business." Celia began to fume more so than she already had been. "Are you sure? Since you came into my classroom during my workday and have been attempting to berate me for the last five minutes, I'm rather certain that's information I should be privy to." Celia stood silent, finally void of a retort. Sydney could tell that she was aching to have something smart to come back with, but was failing. She couldn't think of a good enough excuse. "Hey, did I tell you that…oh fuck." Nathan had come into Sydney's room, a bright smile on his face…until he saw Celia, hence the "fuck." Celia's face went red. "What the hell are you doing in here, Nathan?" "I work here, what's your reason?" he asked without a moment of hesitation. Sydney bit back a smile at the sight of him; she couldn't help it. The physical hold he had on her was rather intense…and now, with his "new look" it was even stronger. Celia's head cocked to the left. She was studying Nathan the same way she had studied Sydney. The last night she had seen him, he was in a wrinkled shirt and baggy slacks, his hair all over the place…but now, he was well groomed, bright eyed, and wearing a crisp green button down shirt and black pants that hugged his rear assets in a way that had been making Sydney crazy all day. "All dressed up for another demotion?" "Whatever she's in here for, I apologize," Nathan said to Sydney, ignoring his ex-wife's comment. "She read Susan's paper," Sydney said, still pretending it was the first she'd heard of it. Nathan was pissed to say the very least. "What the hell is wrong with you, Celia? Susan made it very clear to me that nobody was to read that and I thought we addressed this the other night. Her teacher has nothing to do with this – Susan even said that the assignment was a 'free write' she chose to write what she did, she wasn't told to!" "Did you grow your balls back since last week or something? How dare you yell at me here…" "But it's okay for you to yell at me?" Sydney asked. "You didn't," Nathan said, embarrassed. "It's all over her journal for this class too!" Celia screamed, trying to make her point. "I don't even read their journals," Sydney said, flabbergasted. "They are private exercises!" "You read my journal too?" Susan was standing in the doorway. She had gone to Nathan's room, looking for him, but heard the commotion across the hall. "I'm so sick of this, Mom!" Susan stormed out of the room and Celia dropped her current argument to go after her daughter. Nathan walked over to Sydney and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he said, his voice shaking with anger. "I…" Sydney actually smiled. "I stood my ground, made my point, and am slightly happy to know that I don't think I have anything to worry about." Still angry, Nathan managed to return Sydney's smile. "Never," he said. He kissed her cheek. "I'm pretty sure I have a fire to put out." Unable to help herself, Sydney slapped Nathan's rear. "Go to it then." She winked and he went back to her, kissing her fully on the lips, forgetting that the door was wide open. Nobody passed in those few moments and Sydney was flush. "Oh?" It was all she could manage."Pretty sure you're the one who let me know it was time to 'grow my balls back.' I'll thank you much more appropriately later." He left the room and Sydney went back to her desk to grab her things.