How tough can life be for a blonde girl who was the top of her class academically, was twice an all state volleyball champion who also received a full ride to college, and had a loving family? It wasn't bad, it was great...
Until my sophomore year of college when my parents were taken away by some drunk-assed delivery driver who worked for a major retail chain. Things can go from "perfect" to "world of shit" real fast. Believe me.
And because I was pretty, people saw my looks first. Not to brag, but I have been called "beautiful" and "stunning". Fair skin, perfect complexion, big brown doe eyes. Even at a young age I looked like a supermodel in training. And train I did. I took fitness and sports very seriously, and academics came easily. Eat your heart out Heidi Klum, I'm younger, smarter, and better looking, and I'm coming for you!
But despite my accomplishments people seemed to underestimate me. I was just another dumb blonde who seduced her way to the top they said. And that made boys, and later men- and a few women- think I was something to be possessed.
The captain of the football team could grab my breasts or ass and I was supposed to like it. I liked it about as much as he liked getting kneed in the balls after I told him to get his dickbeaters off of me and he didn't.
Or the family man down the street who hired me to babysit his kids. He thought I might like to suck him off after he put his lush of a wife to bed. I didn't want to do that, and no one but my parents believed me. I wish their 18 year old college freshman nanny would have believed me. Maybe he wouldn't have gotten her pregnant.
But I worked hard. I was a volunteer at Big Brothers/ Big Sisters until...the accident that murdered my parents. Then, I kind of lost myself for a while. About a year anyway. I didn't study, the University put me on academic probation, and I stopped volunteering. I was kind of a lost, wandering soul. It was easy to do, considering our lawyer got a huge settlement from the companies involved. And, technically, my sister and I now owned part of a major distribution warehouse and a trucking company. My sister and her husband did good in managing things, but I was still empty. Of course I missed our parents, but I missed working with kids. So I started back at college with a renewed vigor and interest in education. My parents had made a big impression and difference, and now I owed it to their legacy to do the same.
Anonymously, if at all possible. They never looked for credit for doing the right thing, and neither would I. But now, thanks to their unintentional sacrifice, I had resources.
The University I attended was pretty forgiving about my lackluster academic performance over the last year. They had a policy to handle "Death of a Parent or Caregiver." My NCAA volleyball days, however, were over. Too much lost time and the passion was gone. My parents were going back home after watching one of my volleyball matches. The next time after their death that I stepped on the court was my last. I may be strong, tough and a fighter, but even I had my breaking point.
Once I regained my smile and happiness on the outside, I noticed men wanting me. Looking at me, trying to pick me up. It's not that I was a man-hater, but I think more than anything else I was afraid to get close. What if I got close, and someone took that person away from me again?
My previous experiences with sex were nothing great. I enjoyed having strong arms hold me, pick me up, position me, bend me, grab me, and I am totally being honest, dominate me from time to time. But the actual act always left me disappointed.
It was always about HIS pleasure. When HE was ready, shove it in, thrust, get off, then roll over, leaving me with a mess and a need to finish myself off. If HE wasn't going to pleasure me, what good was he? If I made him use a condom, it ended up on my floor or in my garbage. Or clogging my toilet. If I let him inside me without one, or it broke, and I got flooded, then I always worried about getting pregnant.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the feel, but not the drama and disappointment. My battery powered friends were more satisfying in the long run than a guy who didn't seem to care about me or didn't know or understand me. And my battery powered friends didn't leave the toilet seat up either. I experimented with another woman once. She knew how to make me feel great, but once again, I was left unfulfilled. So I figured I was always going to be alone. Might as well just started raising cats...
Maybe it would be different once I graduated and left all of this behind- got out of here and started new. And standing between me and graduation was one last semester of college. Eight weeks of student teaching and a final eight weeks of wrap up, whatever that meant.
I got my assigned high school where I would be a student-teacher and be assigned a mentor. The school was in my hometown, but luckily not the one I graduated from. That would have been too difficult.
On my first day, I get ushered into the Principal's office, Dr. Ms. Samantha Jones. We discussed my grades, my desires and ultimately who would be my mentor.
"You are a double major in science and social studies. You can teach either. We may try and work you into both, but because you said you would rather teach history, we will start you in 11th grade U.S. History, taught by Mr. Lowe." Then she hit a button on her phone console, and spoke to the whole school apparently, "Mr. Lowe, please report to the Principal's office."
After a couple minutes of uncomfortable silence, a man who looked like Robin Williams in "A Night at the Museum" walked in, took off his cavalry glove, and offered his hand to me, "Hello, Theeee-ah-DOOOR Rose-ah-VELT. PLEAH-Sure to meet you. And you are...?"
"Hannah. Hannah Turner, new student teacher," I managed to get out. I had strange feeling in my stomach. Butterflies? Nervousness, or something else?
"Lovely! Well, unless you and I are both in trouble, I assume you and I are working together." He asked, "shall we head to the classroom and get started?"
He explained that right before a chapter test he likes to get into character and go over the review. This was his review over the Spanish-American War. So he dressed up as Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider. Something jolted me the way he said "Rough Rider".
Mr. Lowe taught the review as Teddy. The students responded well. No one slept, nodded off or goofed around. He had their full attention, as well as mine. It was an unorthodox way of teaching, but it worked. Tomorrow was their test, and then the following day I would be expected to write the lesson plan and present the material.
Teaching went well. For The Roaring 20's chapter, Mr. Lowe dressed up as a gangster and I dressed like a flapper girl, but other than that, there really wasn't a lot of fun characters for me to choose from. Such was the nature of history-written by men so all the fun parts were male. Not as a complaint, but I did mention this to Mr. Lowe.
"I think you would make an excellent Athena when you discuss Ancient Greece" he told me.
"Why not Aphrodite or Venus?" I asked.