It was the day of the first internal exam results. Everyone was visibly nervous and the teachers were doing their best to keep calm in their classes as numerous students went beyond their usual levels of failure, setting records and breaking them within weeks. Shalini was particularly pissed off because of her students. She was the Physics teacher at D.A.S. High and in her few years of teaching; she had never seen a more apathetic group of students then her final year senior high group. The majority of the class had done just about alright, and the usual few had aced their tests. It was just one of the boys in particular that tested her patience today. Out of the paper that held a total of 50 marks, he had answered one question- just that one question, but to his credit he had written that one answer as perfectly as she could have wished for.
The culprit was Michael, an incorrigible boy of such attitude that it was impossible to say something to him without encountering some sort of flawlessly logical argument in response that would make anyone think twice about arguing further. There was no doubt about his intelligence; he was above average- some would say of genius level too. He did extremely well in his language classes and the staff room would pass around his English answer paper because he had a habit of using the essays to write stories that ran on from one test to another. It was like waiting for a new issue of their favourite magazine. However, his dipping grades in the other classes were a worrying story- especially when Shalini was so desperate for him to pass. If there was one student among the hundreds she taught each day that she could choose to pass, it would be him.
Shalini sighed to herself thinking about him as she walked to class that morning. He was certainly charming, with his rebellious attitude and long locks; she still remembered the day he and the headmaster had a shouting row because he wouldn't get a haircut. Michael had gone storming to the Principal's office and come back with the support of the school's premier. This incident had made him into somewhat of a heroic figure at the school. All the young boys flocked to him in fan-boy worship and the girls stood afar, stealing glances when they could. Shalini would find herself blushing often when she caught herself stealing furtive glances at her student.
The teacher-student barrier is one that is difficult to break and the social taboo around it makes that transition such a difficult one- even at the college level, not to mention the age differences involved at the level she was contemplating it. Yet Shalini found herself fantasizing about the young man too many times for her own comfort. She was rather young for a teacher- at 25 she already had a PhD and was planning on taking a break from teaching the next year to concentrate on her next paper. Michael was more than attractive; with his long dark hair always falling about his face, framing those dark intelligent eyes that were full of confidence, he was certainly a charmer for his age. She imagined what he looked like with his shirt off. Once she had stolen a glance at him when he was changing before a game of football. He wasn't particularly muscular but there was a certain grace to his figure that made her want him desperately. Shalini stopped short and walked back to her class, she had missed it in her dreamlike state. The fantasies were getting far too frequent and engrossing to push away as idle fancies. She realized she had to have him or this thought would torment her to the point of insanity.
As she walked into class, the first thing she noticed was Michael's absence. She felt dejected, Shalini had planned on making her move that day and he had chosen such an inopportune day to be absent- again. "He is pushing the limit!!" she whispered to herself as she thought back to the numerous occasions he had absented himself from school- sometimes for such trivial reasons as his video games. If a new game had come out the day before, everyone knew that one seat would be empty that day. "So, which new game's been released this time?" she asked his best friend sitting in the front row. The whole class burst into laughter and Shalini let herself smile. Amrita from the first bench on the girls' side piped up, "Are those answer sheets ours ma'am?"
"No," Shalini lied, feeling annoyed at the girl, "I haven't finished correcting them all. You'll get them tomorrow morning if I can't finish them by this hour." For some reason she was holding out on the class for that one boy. It was not unheard of to distribute students' answer sheets in their absence but she had something up her sleeve for Michael and did not want to lose her opportunity to play that card.
It was the first hour of the day and she felt in no mood to teach so she asked her class to do whatever they pleased, but to do it silently. "Place your notes and texts on your desks, we don't want people coming in unexpectedly and seeing you lot sitting free." She joked with a grin and there were many nods of approval. Shalini sat scribbling something or the other in her notes as the minutes wore on. Her mind wandered off to last week when a few of her students had their birthdays. It was also Michael's birthday but of course she couldn't say anything. How was a teacher who only taught one subject in that class supposed to know and remember one student's birthday? However, she felt overjoyed when he came walking into the staff room that morning with a box of chocolates. It was a sort of tradition all over the country to distribute chocolates among classmates and friends. Unsurprisingly, Michael's box was larger than most people's. She guessed there would be quite a lot of demands for chocolates on his birthday.
Shalini sat at her desk trying her best not to look up at the boy who went first to his English teacher. She felt a girlish annoyance that it wasn't her that her student came to first but to the elderly English teacher. He did eventually reach her desk and smiled as he offered her the box. She was in a capricious mood by now and took the box from him. He stood awkwardly in front of her, waiting for the box to be returned but she merely placed it on her lap and looked at him, "You gave me the chocolates, what's next?" she quipped feeling a little capricious for his having gone to someone else first.
"Well, next I tell everyone who asks for a chocolate that you've taken over management of the matter." He said smiling. Shalini couldn't help but laugh and gave back his box of chocolates and asked, "How old are you?" He was visibly surprised at the candid question but replied, "19". Shalini felt a sudden surge inside as her hopes regained a spark of life, but she fought to maintain her composure. "How is it that you're not already in college if you're 18?" she asked him. He took a quick glance at his watch but replied politely, "I lost a year when we shifted house back when I was in the second grade, I also started school late". She grinned at him and joked, "I wonder how fast you are to finish, then. Not too fast, I hope?" He smiled, not getting her innuendo and excused himself.
Shalini smiled to herself at the thought that the object of her desire was hers for the taking. She suddenly realized where she was and stopped herself before a giggle escaped her lips. Looking around the class she felt relieved that everyone was too busy to have noticed even if she hadn't caught herself. She checked her watched and noticed there was a full half hour to go before the period was up. She felt bored, "Maybe I should just give up and give out the answer papers anyway?" she wondered to herself and took out the bundle she had under her desk. Amrita and a few of the girls looked up anxiously, but she pretended to finish up the evaluation and found there were a couple of papers she had left out. Relieved to have found something to do, she started her work on the papers but stopped and looked up when she heard rushed footsteps outside. To her surprise she saw Michael standing at the door with a sheepish smile on his face, his long hair tussled and messy. "May I come in ma'am?" he asked, panting slightly.
Shalini was overjoyed but couldn't show it. She put on her most serious expression and asked, "Why are you late? Go see the Principal before you come in." He replied, "I've already met him- and the headmaster for that matter- and the class teacher too, if you'd like to know. I would've been here 15 minutes ago if it was only the Principal who wanted explanations. The Principal has excused me but you know the HM." Some girls in the first row giggled. "Alright, come on in," she said without taking her eyes off him. She couldn't help but notice that his shirt was not fully done. She decided to risk it and got up, marching up to him she did his buttons for him, accidentally letting her fingers brush against the little exposed part of his chest, "When you come to class, you make sure you are presentable!" she reprimanded him, "You are sloppy in your dressing, you are poor in your grades and you hardly come to school. Give me one reason I should pass you!"
He was taken aback, more from her doing his shirt buttons in the class than the telling off, and couldn't answer immediately. Shalini took the opportunity to continue her telling off of him, "And now when I ask you for an explanation, you have none?" He stuttered and tried to apologize but Shalini was having too much fun to let him off that easily. "I don't want an apology I want to know your reason for being so late." She continued, "Assembly ends at 9.30 am and class starts at 9.40. And here you are half an hour late!"
"To be fair I'm only 20 minutes late, it's just 10" he tried to say but Shalini wasn't having it. "Don't give me your jokes; I'm in no mood for it. Go sit down, but I'm not through with you, not by a long shot!" she said, dismissing him. She went to her desk feeling pleased with herself. Taking out the answer sheets, she started giving them out. The class got busy trying to add up their marks to see if they could salvage something or to increase their scores. Meanwhile the few who had done poorly sat either in quiet dignity or utter dismay. One girl was even close to tears, her panicked breathing attracting no little interest from the boys.
She had saved Michael's for the last and when she got to it, she held it up for everyone to see.