William looked out at the sea of disinterested faces. From the groans that came from the class, he was lucky if they were past the first page.
“Jess, can you tell me one of the main themes the sermon addresses?”
Ever since his chat with Giles, he had been trying to help Jess. He could see the potential in her. During discussions she would drop her guard and participate, then just as quickly as it would begin, she would catch herself and retreat into her “I don’t care about anything” image.
“Umm, I guess one of the main things I could see was that the kids in the book have to pay for the mistakes of their parents.”
He could tell she was not comfortable with her answer. ”Good point Jess, you are right,” she seemed relived as he moved onto another student for questioning.
“In what kind of ways would this theme work itself out in today’s society?” William was shocked at the speed of Melissa Sotherby. Melissa, as far as he could tell, was the Queen Bee of the school. As much as he would never admit it, part of his preparation for teaching at an American school was watching Mean Girls.
“Melissa, you have some insight for us?” he sat back at his desk and waited for the answer.
“Well, I guess one way would be if the child you weren’t allowed to date boys until you were seventeen.”
The snickers of the class did not go unnoticed by him. “And how would that be punishment for sins of the parents?”
“Well if your mom was already pregnant by the time she was sixteen I don’t see how that’s fair.”
The whole class, for the exception of Jess, broke into laughter. William kicked himself; he walked right into that one. Before he had a chance to settle the class down, Jess had picked up her things and ran out of the classroom.
“Melissa, seeing as you have so much to say, you can stand up the front of the class for the next twenty minutes and give us a detailed review of the entire piece.”
She groaned as she stood up and started her report.
“I will ask Mr. Giles to oversee the class while I go and find Miss Summers,” with that, he left the classroom.
Now if I was a sixteen-year-old girl who was extremely embarrassed and pissed off, where would I go? William wondered as he walked out of Giles’ office. He felt terrible about what he had let happen to Jess. He felt compelled to find her and set it right.
It did not take to long to find her behind the gym smoking, and he almost laughed aloud at the cliché.
“You gunna bust me?” Jess asked all defences up.
“Do I look like a nark?”
She looked him up and down and bit her tongue at her response. “So why are you here?”
“I am sorry about before in the classroom, I should not have let that happen.”
“That’s ok, it’s not like you knew.”
His face gave that one away.
“So you do know. Well, it’s not like I don’t hear it, or some kind or version of it, every other day,” she stubbed out her cigarette.
“I am sorry, it’s not fair for them to treat you that way.”
Jess laughed. “You have never taught at a high school before have you Mr. Mayne? High school is not about fair, it’s about survival.”
“Is that what you do, survive?”
“Two years. Two more years and then I am out of here, away from this school, away from this town, and away from her.”
“Your mom?” he asked.
She shut down at the mention of her mom. He could only imagine the hell she went through everyday.
“Look, I have got to go; otherwise I will be late for my next class. Please don’t feel bad, don’t feel sorry for me. It’s not your fault and it’s not mine either. It’s like the sermon says, sins of the father.”
“Do you ever, ya know, go out?”
Buffy looked up to find Anya Jenkins, an editor perching herself on the edge of her desk and making herself comfortable, not really caring that she nearly knocked over one of Buffy’s pencil cup holders.
“What do you mean, do I ever go out?” Buffy asked, confused. “I go out on the field all the time.”
Anya rolled her eyes. “No, Buffy, out …with a man? With a man, that has a penis. With a man that has a penis that can give you multiple orgasms? Well, you might have to work on the multiple part and hopefully if he’s well endowed and knows how to use his pe—“
“Anya!” Buffy hissed, her cheeks flaming red. “Shut up, would you? People are looking?”
Anya shrugged, as she looked around, smiling brightly at those that were staring. “So?”
Buffy shook her head and tried to go back to work, turning back to her computer and hunching over in the universal “Back off!” body language.
“I know several men I could set you up with,” Anya continued.
Buffy looked at her, eyebrow raised. “Like an escort?”
Anya rolled her eyes, “You don’t have to have sex with them—“
“Anya, honestly, I’m fine. I do not need a…an escort, for crying out loud. I’m fine the way I am.”
“Fine. You’re fine. That’s great. That’s almost convincing. You’re fine having it just you and Jess? You’re fine having your whole life revolve around her and nothing for yourself?”
“Listen,” Buffy started sternly.
“I’m just saying, Buffy, that if you had a little something for yourself, you might find yourself a little happier and maybe even Jess would be happier because you wouldn’t be up her ass all the time.” With that, Anya flounced off before Buffy could even get a word in edgewise.
Anger bubbled forth, and then incredible hurt, so she was swinging somewhere in between the two when the phone rang. Snatching up the phone, she barked hello with a small wobble that hinted tears might be in the awning.
“Miss Summers?” a British voice said through the phone, sounding slightly disoriented.
“Yes?”
“This is William Mayne, Jessica’s English teacher. There’s a problem. I was wondering if you could come down to the school before afternoon detention is over.”
“Oh, great. What did Jessica do today?” Sighing heavily, Buffy shut her eyes and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be down. . . “
“Do you want to know what she did?”
“No, not yet. I still have an hour to wonder and I want to see if I can guess before I get down there. It’s a little game I like to play with myself.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, see, I always make it much worse than it actually is, so that when I have to speak to her teachers for something she did, it doesn’t seem as bad as what I conjured up in my mind.”
Mr. Mayne chuckled and Buffy smiled. “Well then,” he said, “I guess I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Thanks, Mr. Mayne.”