It was finals week.
During this week, the last week of the first semester, Tony had a paper, project, or big exam in each one of his senior-level classes.
He was busy, and so was Ms. Miller. After their night at the Holiday Inn, Tony had driven Ms. Miller back to her apartment.
After that, they both launched themselves into their school duties. Tony was a very good student, but not the top of his class. He really wanted to go to Berkeley, and the school counselor thought he had a good shot of landing UCLA.
He knew that the grades he sent in from this semester would be the first thing that college admissions committees would see when they opened his application. So he studied hard, and tried not to think about his relationship with Ms. Miller.
It was a relationship... wasn't it? They hung out regularly, they had hooked up three times, and she had been his first.
But could a teacher, even a young one, really see her high school student as a boyfriend? As a lover? As a man?
Tony banished all these thoughts from his head. He was way behind in chemistry, and had his final exam on Monday. Then he had a project in CS due Wednesday, and two more exams on Friday, including his exam in Calculus.
He deliberately avoided calling or meeting up with Ms. Miller that weekend so that he would stay focused.
***********************************
It was Wednesday, and Tony was at the library. He felt exhausted and discouraged. His CS project had taken him much longer to finish than he had thought. He had pulled an all-nighter on Tuesday to debug the last frustrating section, and finally had handed in a project he was comfortable with.
He and Ms. Miller texted each other. She seemed to be busy too. Apparently there was a load of administrative work they piled on new teachers that Ms. Miller had put off until now.
+THIS SUCKS. I STILL HAVE TO WRITE YOUR CALC EXAM+ she wrote him.
+LET ME WRITE IT, LOL+ he texted her.
+NAH THAT WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE+ she wrote back.
+NO THAT WOULD BE COOL. OR JUST GIVE EVERYBODY A'S+ he wrote.
+HARDY HAR HAR.+
+PHEW+ he replied.
+WHAT PHEW?+
+JUST TURNED IN MY CS PROJECT. NOW HAVE TO STUDY FOR GOV TEST FRIDAY+ he wrote.
+K. GOOD LUCK.+ she texted.
So he settled into the library. But after the first hour, he realized that he had been reading the same paragraph over and over again. He was just tired.
Tony packed up his stuff and went home to take a nap. But he was too wound up, and anxious about his upcoming exams.
So I can't study, and I can't sleep, he thought to himself. Maybe I should take a break.
He texted Ms. Miller, +HEY. I CAN'T SLEEP. ANY ADVICE?+
She wrote back, +TAKE A STUDY BREAK. YOU DESERVE ONE.+
+OK.+ Tony wrote back. Then sent her an additional message. +U BUSY?+
There was a long pause. Then he got the message. +THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ASK.+
He wrote her: +YOUR PLACE?+
+HOW ABOUT THE GALLERIA? I HAVE TO RETURN SMTHNG, LOL.+
The Galleria? That was a rundown mall at the edge of town. The best store in it used to be a JC Penney's before it had moved out too. Now all the stores were old and most of them were empty. None of his friends hung out there.
+SURE OK+
To him, it didn't sound like much of a setting for a sexual encounter.
***********************************
When they arrived, he saw that he was right. After they had met up, Ms. Miller had taken him to a discount clothing store. The store was dingy and dark. Piles of clothes seemed to be scattered everywhere. Racks that were tightly packed together contained thousands of items of seemingly unsorted clothes.
They were there on a Wednesday afternoon, and no one was in the store except a bored clerk. The clerk processed Ms. Miller's return items, and handed her a card containing a store credit.
"They only gave me store credit," Ms. Miller said. "Do you mind if we shop a bit?"
"Here?" Tony replied. "Do you like this store?"
"Tony, you'd be surprised what you can find at a store like this," Ms. Miller replied over her shoulder while walking through the tightly packed racks.
Wonder what that means, Tony thought.
Tony walked through the tight aisles to see just what they had. Ms. Miller was ahead of him. She would stop every now and them to slip something into a bag she was carrying.
Tony thought that his first assessment of the story was on target. It was filled with random pieces of clothing. Here was a large hat. There a sweatshirt with a college logo. Now, two pairs of velvet pants. There was nothing in here of interest to him at all.
Well, one thing, he corrected himself. Ms. Miller's blond head was clearly visible as she picked her way through the store.
Tony decided to sit and wait. Since there were no chairs, he just sat on the floor with his back to a wall.
An interminable period passed. Tony checked his e-mail with his phone for the 100th time and saw that he again had no messages.
"Tony?" Ms. Miller called out, "Where are you?"