Chapter 2
Friday
“Rayla, wake up!” Ethari calls, shaking Rayla’s shoulder. “You said you have a conference today!”
“Wha- who- Ethari?” Rayla says, half awake.
“Wake up. It’s time for your conference!”
“Oh, shoot!” She says, jolting up from her bed.
She gets up and rushes into the shower. She comes back in 15 minutes and grabs the first thing she sees in her closet. A light pink cotton T-shirt and blue jeans. She puts them on, does her hair and asks Ethari for breakfast. When he says he's not done making it, she prepares a quick coffee for herself, drinks it and grabs the car keys.
— — —
As she was driving, she noticed a supermarket and remembered she wanted to bring chocolates for her students. She pulls over and buys about 40 chocolates. Luckily she had brought her credit card which was in her phone case otherwise it would’ve been a waste to go to the market as she had forgotten her purse.
— — —
Rayla makes her way into her classroom, takes the students’ report cards out and keeps them on the shelf. Sometimes she wished that teaching wasn’t so pressurizing. Sure, she loved doing it but teaching on one side and studying philosophy to become a lawyer on the other didn’t really help. She was feeling too stressed out.
She takes a seat at her desk and a student with her parents approaches her. They talk for sometime and five other students with their parents approach her. She finishes talking to them and gives them some chocolates. She then goes back to sort her files when Ezran and his brother approach her. She didn’t notice them at first so Ezran called out.
“Ms. Ghealach!”
She turns around and when she sees him, her tensed face automatically forms into a smile. Ezran was her favorite student and she had been waiting to meet his dad. But he didn’t come with his dad and instead came with a boy who seemed to be about her age, wearing a hoodie and jeans. He had brown messy hair and emerald green eyes. She assumed he was Ezran’s brother. He had mentioned that he has a brother in class a few times but every time, she assumed that his brother was younger than him.
“Hello, Ezran!” She says. She looks at Callum and thought it wouldn’t be polite if she didn’t say hi to him too although she doesn’t know him so she says, “Hello.” a bit quieter.
“Uh, hello.” he says, shyly.
“This is my brother, Callum.” Ezran tells her.
She once again faces him and smiles at him.
She thinks for a few moments about what to say and says, “So… about Ezran. He’s amazing. My favorite student actually. He’s disciplined, completes his assignments on time, comes to class in time, pays good attention in class and always scores high.”
Ezran’s brother seemed to be surprised.
“Wow… that’s a lot of compliments.” He says.
“Well, he deserves them. So far, I don’t even have one complaint on him.”
“That’s good. He also said you were his favorite teacher.”
She was Ezran’s favorite teacher? She felt so happy hearing that.
“Aw, that’s sweet.” she said softly.
For some reason, Ezran’s brother was staring at her. Why was he doing that? Was her hair messy? Did she not do it well in a hurry?
She didn’t know how to react so she just raised her eyebrow at him. But he didn’t seem to notice.
But after a few seconds he snaps out of whatever he was thinking and says, “Um, sorry.”
Sorry? So he knew he was staring… And was he doing it on purpose?
“That’s… alright.” She needed to change the topic. This wasn’t something she expected in a conference and it was awkward. “Anyways, do you have anything you want to tell me or ask me regarding Ezran?”
“Um, no. That’s all.” He says with a nervous smile.
“Alright then.” She reaches for her bag and takes a chocolate out and gives it to Ezran. “Here you go.” she says, with a wide smile.
Ezran takes the chocolate, thanks her and starts eating it.
“Oh wow, did you bring that chocolate specially for Ez or…” Ezran’s brother asks her.
“Oh, no.” Chuckling, she says, “I brought one for every student. I like to see them happy whether my feedback on them was good or bad.”
He smiles at her.
She thought maybe it wouldn’t be nice if she didn’t offer him one too. He was about his age. So, he should enjoy chocolates too. Like her, right?
“Do you want one too?” She asks, smiling.
“Um…” He hesitates.
“There’s no shame in it. I munch on chocolates all day. Sometimes I wonder how I’m still alive.”
He lets out a small chuckle and takes the chocolate she offered.
He was staring at her again. She needed to say something.
“Although I shouldn’t be saying that in front of my student but Ez is good he won’t tell anybody.”
Ezran nods.
“The secret’s between us.” She says, winking.
“Yep.” Ezran replies.
So, it was over, right? They were done. She had done everything she was supposed to.
“Alright then. We’re done.” She says, getting up.
After they leave, she opens up the camera on her phone and looks at herself. She was fine, right? Then why was he staring at her like that? Was there some other reason? Why did she care so much anyway? It’s not like she’s going to see him again. Right? But truth be told, he did seem pretty cute and the way he got flustered when he realized he was staring was really sweet…