Hello and welcome to part four.
As always all characters sexually active are over the age of 18 years old.
I have put this in the category of First Time for obvious reasons.
Please leave your score at the end to show your appreciation and if you have something to say, leave that comment.
Michael or Mac 4
"Hi Mac, do you want a lift home?"
"Christ, Terri, you almost gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry, jump in, and I will explain." I reluctantly get in and belt up. It's only about half a mile from my home. I look across at Terri expectantly. She has the same look on her face that Paps did the other day. "Okay, the four of us have been a little concerned about what happened with Josh White."
"The four of you?"
"Yes, Me, Paps, Susan, and Kim. We are all worried there might be some repercussions, especially after Donna unceremoniously dumped that horrible thing she called a boyfriend."
"Yeah, I'm not a fan of the guy."
"Anyway, Kim gave me a call earlier to ask me to offer you a lift home on my way home from the gym. So here I am, only you came out the side gate, and I was parked too far away."
I sit there and take this in. I'm not sure whether to be angry or happy that they care that much. I shake my head, "thank you, Terri."
Terri smiles across at me, "can I ask you what you know about this Mitch guy?"
"Mitch? Why do you want to..........hang on. Donna's not got an interest in Mitch?"
"Oh, I think the interest is mutual."
"Wow, well, I've known Mitch since Middle school. He's always treated me well." I laugh thinking about his antics over the years. "Don't get me wrong, he has his moments, but I've never seen him do anything malicious. He always seems to know when to leave me to whatever issue I have. He's one of the good guys."
"Well, I wasn't expecting that. Donna usually gets attracted to the wrong sort. Present company excluded." We pull up outside Terri's house. "Here you go, home safe."
"Thank you. I didn't think about outside school problems. I will drive or get a taxi in the future." I go to get out, but Terri grabs my arm.
"One last thing, have a good weekend and don't do anything I wouldn't."
"I suppose you want a hug as well?"
Terri's face lights up, "Now I'm not one to turn a little sugar away, honey." With that, she opens her arms expectantly.
I give her a hug, "Thanks for being there, Terri." We relax our arms, and I get out of the car. Then, walking to the front door and let myself into the unusually quiet house.
******
Tuesday is the first of two lessons a week in music. Both classes are in the auditorium, and as usual, I sit at the back. What is different this year is that we have a new teacher. Mrs. Ellis is an enthusiastic young teacher and likes everyone to be involved. She has left me alone for the first couple of weeks, but she is setting the class a task today, and my name is on her list.
"Right, listen, class.......For the next month, I want you to form groups of two or three. Just before we break for Thanksgiving, we will be giving a concert for the school. Everyone is involved, and I warn you now, this will go towards your final grade."
A murmur goes around the class, and Emma looks over at me. She gives me a signal that she wants to team up with me, and I nod in response.
"Okay, so fight amongst yourself, and once you have sorted yourselves out, I will take note of each group."
The noise ramps up, and Mrs. Ellis makes a move towards me.
"Hello, Michael, is it?" I nod, "Hello Michael, I know it might be difficult to pair you off, but........" She stops talking as Emma walks up beside her.
"It's okay, Mrs. Ellis. I will pair up with Michael."
"Oh, right. Okay, well, I'll leave you both to it then." She smiles and then returns to the desk at the front.
"Well, Michael," Emma says, sitting next to me. "Looks like you are going to get your wish."
I look out at the rest of the class hustling around, not taking much notice of us. "Which wish was that?"
"Getting to sing with me. I must admit I never thought I would get to sing with a famous musician."
I smile, "you know how to stick the knife in, don't you." Then, I turn my attention to Emma, "any idea what you want to sing?"
"Oh god, not really. It will have to be a duet. I'm not singing on my own."
We sit there watching the rest of the class, still trying to figure what day of the week it is. Then, finally, Mrs. Ellis calls for everyone to be quiet.
"Okay, you lot, hopefully, everyone has got someone. When I call your name, shout who you are with." She doesn't call our names as everyone else makes their choices known.
Just before the bell goes, Mrs. Ellis looks up at us, "Michael, Emma, can you stay behind for a minute, please?"
As the bell goes, everyone grabs their bags and files out. We get odd looks as people file past.
"Stay there," Mrs. Ellis says as she walks up. "Okay, it seems I am new to the school, and nobody seems to want to answer my questions. Can you enlighten me about you, Mr. Carter?"
"Wow, I like it straight to the point. What would you like to know?"
"Well, what's with the glasses?"
"I suffer from photophobia," I answer.
"And why is Miss Harper so defensive of you?"
"That would be because she was my guardian for a while when my Grammy was ill."
"Well, that makes sense. And are you capable of completing this assignment with Emma here?" Emma laughs at the question. "Sorry, am I missing something here?"
"Sorry, Mrs. Ellis, but can you keep a secret?"
"I think I can manage that. Why?"
"Have you seen the video that Donna Samford made.....? Well, it's everywhere on social media."
"Yes, I have. Oh right, the guy in the video is your boyfriend, and he's going to help you and Michael to produce something?"
"Not exactly," Emma says, looking at me to get permission to continue, "Michael is my boyfriend, Mac."
Mrs. Ellis's eyes go straight to me. "You are the guy in the video?" I nod my head as she sits down, looking a little stunned. "How have you kept that a secret? It beggars belief." Mrs. Ellis composes herself. "So who in this school knows?"
Emma gets up, "sorry, I've got to get to the other side of the school." She leans in and kisses me, "see you later, baby." With that, Emma picks up her bag and hurries to her next class."
"Don't you have a class to get to, Michael?"
"No, I passed most classes last year. My next lesson is free, and I usually spend it in the library."
"Oh, okay. That explains why you're never in class. So who knows about this."
"Out of the students, just Emma. Most of the teachers that have been here over five years now, and of course, the Principle."
"Is there a reason you're doing this?"
"Mmmm, yes, I lost my parent when I was seven." Mrs. Ellis goes to speak, but I put my finger up. If I stop, I will not get it out. "I came here from West Virginia to live with my grandparents. Then my Grammy died, which hit me very hard and is when I changed. I got it into my head that people I love died, so when I returned after a year away, I stayed away from everyone that meant anything to me, including Emma, and became antisocial to avoid making new friends. It's only recently that Emma and I got back together."
"Wow, sorry to hear you lost both parents and then your Grammy; that is hard. So why didn't people recognize you on your return?"
"This happened between schools. I grew about six inches and came back looking like this. I used Paps last name, and everyone treated me like the new kid, so it made it easy."
Mrs. Ellis looks at me, processing the information. "Almost like the Clark Kent and Superman thing."
"Pardon?"
"You know, when Clark Kent wears his glasses, nobody recognizes him." She looks at me, giving her a blank look, "oh nothing. So what's the chance we could play a little music together?"
I get up and, we walk down to the auditorium's stage. "So, what instrument do you play?" I ask as we get to the bottom step.
"Oh, piano and guitar?" Mrs. Ellis answers.
I sit down behind the grand piano that takes up most of the stage at the moment and put the lid up. Mrs. Ellis sits down next to me, it feels weird at first, but once we start and get into the music, I slowly relax. I see a look of pure joy and love for music on Mrs. Ellis's face.