You're the One

Thanks to all my faithful readers for waiting so long for my new story. It was a bit lengthy, so I split it into three chapters. I hope you all love this story. It took me a very long time to write. I would like to thank my editor for his patient editing and his helpful hints. Enjoy.

It was the beginning of a new year. I had the seniors on my register that year. A week before school started, I was sitting in my classroom. I had to get books ready for the students and had to prepare the first lessons. The new lady in the front desk office called me over the intercom system. I rushed down to the front desk in a hurry, thinking that there might be an emergency.

"Good morning, Ms Grey. You have a new student on your class register. She is completing her final year with us. The young lady is waiting in the lobby for you," the older woman said. She looked at me with a smile and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Good morning, Mrs Adams. Thank you very much. Please call me Shannon. I came down in such a hurry; I thought that there might be an emergency."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that, Shannon. I'm still getting used to this intercom. It's different from the one I'm used to. The principal asked if you could show the young lady where all of her classes are. She has her schedule. I printed a copy out for her."

"No problem at all. I will be happy to show her around. Have a nice day, Mrs Adams. Don't worry about this intercom; you'll get the hang of it."

"Thank you, Shannon, I'm sure I will. Have a nice day."

The young woman sat on a chair in the lobby. She looked around nervously, eyeing every adult who walked past her. She looked vulnerable and fragile, as if she were lost. I felt the need to protect this young woman. I can't explain why I felt that way. It was as if time stood still around us as I walked over. No-one else moved. The two of us moved in slow motion. It was suddenly too quiet in the lobby. I gazed around the room, people stood around and talked to each other. Their lips were moving but no sounds could be heard, only dead silence.

I couldn't help but admire the young woman's fit figure when I returned my attention on her. Her jeans hugged her thighs and legs like a second skin. Her short sleeved button-up shirt tightly hugged her waist and chest. She wore sandals on her feet, exposing creamy lilac painted toe nails. Her long brown hair was tied into a ponytail. A lock of hair hung on both sides of her face, framing it perfectly. She looked up at me with cerulean blue eyes, captivating my very soul. We gazed into one another's eyes for what seemed like hours but were mere seconds. I shook my head and swallowed hard to wet my sudden dry throat.

"Hi I'm... Shannon Grey," I introduced myself. I extended my hand to shake hers. She stood up and reached out.

She was about 5'0" to my 5'7" but had a stunning body for her height: firm breasts, curvy hips, flat stomach, slightly muscular arms and legs, silky soft fair skin. Her arms and legs made her look a bit bulky for her size but otherwise she seemed to be very fragile and femme. She seemed to be checking me out as well, judging by how her eyes slowly flowed up my body. I couldn't help the smile that spread across my lips.

"Hi, I'm, Elise Benson," she said, placing her hand in mine. Immediately, I felt a connection between us; a spark. She must have felt it too, because she quickly removed her hand from mine and stuck both her hands in her back pockets.

"Uhm... the principal asked me to show you around the school, since you are on my register. I will also be your English teacher for this year." I was still mesmerised by her eyes, trapped in a trance-like state. I couldn't take my eyes off hers. She seemed to be a bit uncomfortable and broke our eye contact. She looked down at her feet.

"Great... thank you... Ms Grey," she answered, in a barely audible whisper.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. It's just that I've never seen such beautiful cerulean blue eyes before." Feeling kind of uncomfortable myself, I cleared my throat. What was wrong with me?

"Thank you, I get that a lot." Elise smiled shyly at me and blushed crimson.

She seemed shy and withdrawn, but she got more comfortable as we talked more. I showed her where her classes were. I showed her my classroom last. We talked about her subjects, her previous school and friends while we walked to the parking lot. By the time she had to leave, she was just as bubbly and excited as I was. I turned and walked back to the lobby. She opened a car door. I stopped and looked back, only to find her looking back at me.

We smiled at each other, keeping eye contact for the briefest moment. She got into the waiting taxi, smiled brightly and closed the door. Why did both of us look back? The next few days passed by too quickly for me. For some reason, I couldn't get Elise out of my head. I felt dazed and confused. I still can't remember what I did in those few days before school started for the students.

The day school started, I found a red rose and a poem on my table. It seemed that I had a secret admirer. I had a suspicion of who it was, but I couldn't prove it. Three weeks of school passed. I saw Elise walk to school and home every day. I would always catch her at the school gate in the morning and a block away from where I lived in the afternoons. I was always too late to pick her up. I would also catch her in class watching me intently with those cerulean blue eyes. When I caught her gaze and smiled at her, she would look down at her books, blushing furiously. She found any excuse to talk to me. She was a smart girl, but I knew that she only pretended not to understand the work.

Every time she stood next to me, I would find myself looking at her legs or her breasts out of the corner of my eyes. I suspect she knew because she would stand even closer to me. Or maybe she was staring down my blouse to see my cleavage. She was driving me off-my-rocker crazy.

Instead of finishing my work at school one day about three weeks into the first semester, I decided to take it home and leave early. I caught Elise at the school gate heading home. I stopped and waited for her to pass by, then opened the passenger door. She stopped, bent forward and peered inside, almost two feet away from the car. This girl really was cautious with whatever she did. I will never forget the smile that grew on her face when she saw me sitting in the driver seat.

"Hi Elise," I greeted nervously. Why was I nervous? I chewed on my bottom lip and stared at her eyes.

"Hi Ms Grey." She looked as nervous as I felt; her voice sounded a bit shaky.

"Please, call me Shannon; everyone else does. I know it's unorthodox to let the seniors call me on my first name, but the formalities make me feel old. Would you like a lift home? I've seen you walk every day, but I could never catch you in time." She looked at me, then at the road ahead of us. She seemed to be deciding if she could trust me or not. She walked closer to the door.

"Yes, please M... Shannon, I would appreciate that very much." She got into the car and fastened her seatbelt.

"Where do you live Elise?" I asked as I drove off with her.

"I actually live across the street from you... two houses to the right." She smiled shyly at me. That shy smile just about melted my icy heart.

"Oh, so you are my new neighbour. I wondered who moved into that house. I've never seen you there." I brushed a stray hair behind my ear. Was I flirting with this young woman?

"I haven't really had the time to get to know my neighbours yet. I'm still busy unpacking, and then there's school as well."

"Yes, I know what you mean. I moved here five years ago and I still don't know anyone that well."

I swear I could feel her eyes on me. I watched her out of the corner of my eye. She had her eyes glued to my big breasts, unconsciously licking her lips.

I leaned to the radio and startled the poor girl out of her devouring trance. She followed my hand with her eyes as I turned it on and returned my hand to the gear lever. She swallowed hard and released a deep breath. Silence fell between us until we reached my house. When I parked my car in the driveway, Elise jumped out and grabbed the bag at her feet.

"Hold on a moment. Would you like to drive with me every morning and afternoon? It would save you a lot of time and it would be no trouble for me." She smiled brightly at me.

"I would love to, thank you, Shannon. I do need more time to do things around the house in the mornings and afternoons." She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked shyly down at her feet.

"Good, see you tomorrow morning then. Have a good day."

"Thank you, you too... Shannon." She threw her bag over her shoulder and walked off, swaying her saucy hips. Something in the way she said my name that last time made my knees go weak. I had to lean against my car, to balance myself.

We talked a lot as two more weeks passed by. I found more poems on my desk at school. I had finally found my secret admirer. Then one afternoon on the way home she caught me completely off guard.

"Are you married Shannon?" Why would she ask me something so personal? Was this young woman fishing? I smiled lopsidedly at her.

"No... I'm not married... yet. I haven't met the right woman yet. Do you have a boyfriend?" I watched Elise's face. What I answered hadn't sunk in yet.

"Nope, no boyfriend at all, I'm not interested. Honestly, they repulse me. I..."

She stopped talking and looked out the window as if remembering something awful. She turned her head to face me.

"You..." I sensed that there was something bothering her. I figured that she had a rough past and didn't let just any person into her heart or thoughts.

"I'll tell you about it when I'm ready. Right now, all I'm going to say is that I'm... confused... about my... sexuality. Wait... you're a lesbian?" she asked shocked.

"Yes I am, have been since I was twelve. You said you're confused. Why?" I started to get very interested now.

I tried not to show my emotions but I think I failed. She was staring at me with a raised eyebrow, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Well, I met this woman. I like her very much, enough to want to grab her and kiss her. The problem is that I don't know if she likes me the same way I do her. I fell in love with her in the six short weeks I've known her." I pulled up in my driveway and shut the car off.

I turned my body so I was facing Elise. She had that shy smile on her lips that I have come to love so much. She blushed furiously and fiddled with her fingers in her lap.

"Hhmmm, the woman you're talking about. Does this woman know? Have you talked to her yet?" I asked her. I tried to keep eye contact with her, but she kept looking down at her hands.

"Well, she knows now. I've just told her." Elise looked at me with those big cerulean blue eyes.

"I... Wow... I..." I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Why don't you come in and talk to me for a while?" She looked at me questioningly and then started tearing up. I didn't know what to do. Why was she crying?

"No, don't cry. I know it's confusing and scary at first. Come in, so we can talk about this. You just caught me off guard, that's all. I was kind of expecting something to happen. The looks you give me in class, the poems and gifts you leave. I didn't expect you to say anything for a while yet." Elise smiled lightly at me.

"I'm not crying about that. This wasn't the reaction I was expecting. I thought you would hate me or be angry with me. You knew it was me that left the poems and gifts?" I nodded my answer.

She let her tears spill.

I put my arms around the young woman and felt her tense up. After a while, she relaxed against my body. I let her cry out her frustrations. Her crying stopped; she looked up into my eyes sniffing. For a moment our eyes connected. I knew that we shouldn't be doing this, but I couldn't help myself. She pushed herself away from me and sat up, still staring into my eyes. Her hands rested on my breasts.

When she felt my nipples harden under her touch, she removed her hands. She blushed furiously. We went inside and spent the afternoon talking about how we grew up. She left out a big chunk of her life from before she moved here. I knew she would talk to me about it when she was ready to talk about it.

It got dark, so I walked her home. The house seemed deserted and empty. She was an only child. Her mother committed suicide five years ago and her father died of a broken heart six months after that. She lived with an uncle after that. Now at eighteen, she lives off a trust fund her father left her. She was using it to put herself through her last year of high school and look after herself until she could start working.

"Shannon, would you like to come in for a drink? I know it's already very late but there is something else I want to talk to you about." Elise had an uncertain look in her eyes, a mix of hope and fear.

"I would love to... but I can see in your eyes that you aren't really ready to tell me about it. We have a lot of time to get to know each other and tell each other everything there is to know." The expression on her face turned to one of thankfulness and understanding, but a little disappointment showed in her eyes.

She sighed in relief and looked at me with that cute shy smile. For a moment her eyes almost looked violet. I felt butterflies in my stomach and my face flushed. We stood two steps away from each other, she on the top step and me on the bottom step.

"Good night, Elise, I will see you in the morning." I looked away as I spoke.

"Good night, Shannon." I felt her hand on my shoulder. I opened my arms slightly for a hug and turned my head. As I made eye contact with her, our lips met. We both froze and stared at each other. I turned my head sideways, closed my eyes, tangled one hand in her hair and placed the other on her hip. I felt her hand on my shoulder slide around my neck and the other settle on my stomach. A shiver ran through my body at her touch.

Her lips parted at the first feel of my tongue against her lips. The sweetness of her taste enticed me. I stepped up one step and pulled her in closer to my body. Her hand slid from my stomach around my waist and settled on my lower back. She pulled me in even closer. Reluctantly, we broke the kiss and smiled shyly at one another. I put my forehead against hers and cupped her cheek with one hand.

"Sweat dreams, I'll see you tomorrow, bright and early." I gently slid my hand down her arm into her hand.

"Sweat dreams, Shannon." Our fingers parted from each other reluctantly. Looking back at her, I saw the sweetest smile on her lips. I walked home and thought about the kiss. What have I done? What am I doing? I'm her teacher and she is my student.

I could lose my job over that one simple kiss. I couldn't sleep at all that night. I sat on my bed, reading all the poems she left me. Judging by the content of the poems, she really did love me.

I had to put a stop to this. The kiss was a mistake. Did I want to stop whatever was happening between us? I had my heart broken five years earlier in college. Could I give her my heart? What the hell was I thinking about? Did I fall in love with her too? Yes.

I wanted to talk to her about what happened the previous night, but I couldn't find the words. I didn't have the heart to break her heart. The next morning when she came over, she looked happy for the first time since I'd met her. I do love her and I am in love with her. How do I handle this? She sat in my kitchen, waiting for me to finish. She was drinking the cup of coffee I made her, when I walked in. Before I could even think of how to start the conversation, she started it for me.

"Shannon, we have to talk about what happened last night." I took a seat in front of her and gazed into her eyes.

"I agree on that notion. Look, Elise, I really like you and I am in love with you too, I think. If we are going to have a relationship, we are going to have to be very careful. If we get caught, I could lose my job. No, I will lose my job."

"I know that. I really want to be with you but I don't want you to lose your job. I am eighteen, so I am old enough to make my own choices. I am also living on my own and independent. We could just keep our relationship behind closed doors."

"It's true; you are an independent woman putting herself through school. I guess we can keep our relationship secret until you finish this year. I do have one request, though." I gazed at her lips, biting my lower lip. I returned my eyes to hers.

"And what is that, Shannon?" she asked me. She smiled so sweetly at me, I couldn't help but blush.

"Uhm... How do I say this?" I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second. "I want us to save sex for after you graduate." I chewed nervously on my lower lip. Her face flushed at my request. She glanced shyly at me.

"Honestly, I haven't even thought about sex yet. Okay, maybe I have a little bit, but I'm not ready for that yet. So, I agree on that notion." I let out my breath and relaxed.

"Good, let's see where the year takes us. We both still have a lot to learn about one another. We will also have to keep our relationship on a professional level at school." We both got up and hugged each other. Our lips met, producing the softest kiss I have ever had. It was difficult but we managed to keep our relationship secret. Two and a half semesters passed by quicker than I could count. Typical South African semesters, barely on holiday then you have to get back to school.

She spent weekdays at my place as we did that first day. She would do her homework while I worked. Afterward we would sit on my couch and make out, watch a movie while we snuggled together and talked about our likes and dislikes. At school I treated her just as I treated any other student. We were careful not to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves. We celebrated my twenty seventh birthday at her house in June. I still found little poems on my desk at work now and then. I spent weekends visiting my parents on their farm while she spent time with her closest friends. Every Friday I would find a note saying: 'I hope you enjoy your weekend and return to me safely on Sunday evening', with a sweet little love poem underneath it. I found the poems and gifts sweet and endearing.

During the school holidays we spent our time going out for dinner, movies and to clubs. As time passed our love for each other grew stronger and... needier. She never slept over at my house at all. We both knew what that would lead to and we didn't want that to happen yet.

Months later in her fourth and last semester, on her nineteenth birthday in November, I left my classroom for a few minutes. I returned to find Elise waiting in the door. School was out and I had just finished grading papers before I left for the restroom.

It would be Friday tomorrow; I had told my parents that I would be bringing a guest with me for the weekend. They were ecstatic and helped organise the pool house behind the house for a special romantic evening. I have very special plans for her. Elise followed me into my classroom and locked the door behind her.

"Elise, what are you doing?" I asked her nervously.

I had blinds put up on all the windows when I started teaching. I found it terribly distracting to see students staring out the windows while I tried to teach them.

"I am nineteen today. I can't wait any longer. I need you... I need to feel you."

Elise walked over to all the windows and closed the blinds. I watched her both nervously and expectantly. She slowly walked over to me. I backed off from her and fell into the chair behind my desk, a high back swivel chair with no arm rests.