Scipione Maffei High School had a reputation for its strict rules and regulations. They emphasised on maintaining transparency between students, parents and teachers. They held compulsory parent-teacher meetings on last Fridays of each month.
This time around, the prospect of the meeting had me in lumps. What if Lexi's Mom got a whiff of the actual reason behind my leaving the school accommodation! I was stressed beyond measure.
One, I was already under the radar and had to appear before the disciplinary committee, and two, I did not want to leave this mansion which had been suddenly bestowed on me by the heavens. That too, almost for free.
I was aware of the realities of life. I knew Ella could rent the portion out to anyone, any day, with manifold the rent that I had agreed to pay. And that's why, to tell you the truth, I had not even unpacked any of my bags fully. I had stayed tough on myself and had made up my mind for anything that came.
I had been regretting the actions of the past days. I regretted every second the way things had turned out, the way I had led her on, and how it had climaxed into my own downfall. But still, the regret has not changed me much. It was sheer foolishness, and more than feeling sorry, I was kicking myself for my carelessness.
I jumped out of my wits when there was a knock at the door.
Fearing that it could be Ella, I began arranging around the house. A bachelor's pad has many things lying around which need to be hidden – dirty underwear, a smelly sock with tiny holes in it and god knows what all. In my case, I needed to hide both. Didn't want my landlady to start regretting her decision of giving this place out to me.
I tried to hide my irritated sigh on opening the door. 'Hi Lexi! How are you?'
She barged in before I could ask her to enter. This was unexpected from a child her age. I mean, wasn't this basic etiquette. And I often wondered how Ella's child could be so unlike her sophisticated and well-mannered mother. I found it extremely rude. Height of insolence! Alright, the house belongs to her, but entering my room like this was preposterous.
'May I come in, sir?' she asked, walking in.
I was still standing at the door. 'You are already inside the house, Lexi.' 'Oh, thank you, sir.' She smiled, showing me most of her teeth.
Soon after, I got another glimpse of her immaturity. She went straight to sit on the chair in the sitting room, wearing a bright yellow pair of cotton shorts. Her bamboo thin, unattractive legs failed to draw my attention. I silently thanked the heavens above for making her so average looking.
But despite all that, her sitting in my home like that was worrying me. I left the door wide open and kept a safe distance from her. I had already been awarded the title of "the sexually abusing teacher".
'Lexi, I think you should not be coming here in the absence of your mom.' I stood with my hands across my chest and told her quite seriously.
'But why?' she counter-questioned me, as if I had taken away her birth rights.
It was not something that needed to be explained to a seventeen-year-old, I thought. I sometimes felt, girls got this knowledge instinctively. And more so, parents of today are quite prompt with such education – good touch, bad touch, staying out of trouble, not meeting strangers, not going to the paying guest when no one else was home, you know! But how could I make her understand. She had no rational mind, it seemed.
Seeing no way out of her wide eyes staring at me questioningly, I said it out loud, pointing out the obvious, 'Your coming here might displease your mother.'
'Why?' she asked genuinely taken aback. 'What are we doing here that's wrong?'
Frankly speaking, there was nothing wrong, but you know where I was coming from!
She was lost in her own treasure hunt, it seemed. She was going through the many books I had lined on the shelf. 'So many books, sir! You've read
all of these?' She looked at them in wonder. 'I am a teacher,' I stated.
'I know,' there was an artless smile on her face.
A solemn face always hides the disturbances of the mind. Looking at her going through my stuff with forced calm triggered a doubt. She was searching for something in the room.
'Are you looking for something?' I asked her finally.
She looked around, hoping the thing she was looking for would appear. 'I can't see a family photo.'
Someone had spoken about my family after so long. For a moment, I wondered if I had a family. In fact, in my entire description about my life, I have not once detailed anything about my family.
I rushed the thoughts out of my mind and asked her softly, 'Why? Is it compulsory for everyone to have a family photo in their house?'
'Yes. I have seen them in all my friends' houses,' she chirped innocently.
I realized once again that it was futile to reason with her. She was persistent, and closed her ears while talking, it seemed. So she went on and on.
'You have come here to ask about my family photo?' I was getting exasperated now, and wanted her to leave.
'No!' she smiled and sat back on the chair. Reluctantly, I rested my back on the wall opposite her.
She suddenly straightened her back in excitement and asked me, 'Do you believe in angels?'
I could not understand how to deal with her.
'You have come here to ask that?'This time I was rude.
'No, I wanted to show you something,' she said with the same level of excitement.
She smiled from ear to ear and fished out a phone from her pocket. 'I got a new phone. I wanted you to see it.'
I picked the phone and turned it around. 'An iPhone!' I pretended I was impressed and faked interest in the thing. But inside my head, I was
wondering, does a class tenth girl require such an expensive phone? Knowing that asking that question could get me into a long, unrelated answer, I rather asked, 'What is the specialty of this phone?'
'Sir, it has a new 6-core GPU which is fifty percent faster than the other phones. The headphone jack has helped Apple make its new iPhones slimmer and boost its battery life too. It also has stereo speakers, you know. It has all the latest apps, beautiful interface and it's so light weight,' she rattled off.
It was hard to believe she was aware of all that. The way she usually spoke left a very juvenile impression of her, and this was quite surprising. That was the first time I thought she might have some brains.
I raised my eyebrows to show I was impressed. 'Wow, it definitely is a nice phone. Any other special feature?' I asked coldly.
The girl who had appeared intelligent just a few seconds back said something which failed a lifetime of analysis. She said, 'Yes, you can make phone calls too.'
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