Behind Hazel Eyes

The Students of Class 2A

Theme #3: Snap! Snap! Photograph
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Aurora was more nervous than she had thought and as she thumbed through her notes again, she struggled to gather moisture into her dry mouth. There was definitely an excitement in the air as the other teachers prepared for their classes too. There was going to be a morning assembly according to Principal Hanada and then she and the rest of the staff would be introduced to the children.

“Relax,” Sakura said as she walked up to the visibly tense Aurora. She placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Everyone’s nervous their first time around. Like me. The first time I came here, I threw up several times in the bathroom…”

“Excuse me,” Aurora blurted quickly as she stumbled to her feet and all but dashed out of the room. Sakura’s talk of barfing had made her stomach churn even more uneasily. Now, she too had the urge to throw up the meager breakfast of tea and toast she had had this morning. Staggering down the corridor, with a hand slapped over her mouth, she made the turn towards the ladies room, only to find herself colliding into a hard chest with a soft grunt of surprise.

“I’m sorry,” she began weakly, lifting her gaze to apologize to the person. But any other words she might have said, died on her lips as she stared into Adam’s impassive blue eyes. She felt an incredible surge of heat fill her body but it was quickly replaced with dull anger as she remembered his words to her yesterday.

“You,” she spat out coldly before taking a step away from him. She slapped a hand over her mouth again as she felt the sickening lurch within her bowels. And knowing she might end up messing up Adam’s clothes (although a part of her wished she would really do that) she shook her head and raced towards the Women’s restrooms, closing the door behind her with a resounding slam.

Adam, who had just left the Men’s room himself a few moments earlier for a quick douse of cold water on his cheeks, stood staring at the closed door for a few more seconds before turning away with a soft sigh. He clutched his briefcase tightly and ran restless fingers through his hair as he made his way to the staff room. He had woken up this morning to something he had hoped and prayed would never happen. Seeing Akari’s naked form snuggled close to him in bed had confirmed his worst fears and sent his already throbbing hangover into overdrive.

This new development was definitely going to complicate matters in their relationship.

It wasn’t that he despised her – not in the slightest. Any man in his right mind would want to sleep with a girl like Akari…he just wasn’t the one. What made the situation even worse was that through it all (at least what he could remember), he could have sworn he had been imagining Aurora with him.

Damn.

“Good morning, Hayakawa-sensei,” Sakura greeted with a warm smile. “Ready for the day?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he replied with a matching smile, nodding towards the other teachers who greeted him. He tried to greet Fujiwara but was surprised to find that his fellow comrade wasn’t even looking at him. Fujiwara seemed to have a scowl on his features and was doing his best to ignore everyone else around him.

“Don’t mind him,” Sakura said, rolling her eyes. “He’s been this way since you and Aurora left yesterday.”

“Oh…ah…speaking of her…” he began, hoping his curiosity wasn’t too evident.

Sakura smirked lightly with a knowing look. She could see the faint hue of color on Adam’s cheeks. “Oh, she wasn’t feeling too well…nerves I guess. But she was limping too…a little. Do you know why?”

Adam had the grace to blush although he shook his head slowly. “I...I’m not sure…”

But he did have a feeling that the stubborn woman had walked all the way home with no shoes on. He could only imagine how long and painful that must have been.

And it’s all my fault.

“All right everyone! Assembly time!” Kei-sensei announced with a clap of his hands. “Let’s go everyone!”

However, he knew he would have to put aside Aurora’s woes for the meantime. He had twenty young minds to deal with, all waiting to be filled with new lessons.

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To Aurora, the assembly was a blur of noise, color and sound. The auditorium was filled with about two hundred students ranging from age 7 to 13. They were extremely well behaved – all looking quite nice in their white shirts and black pants or skirts. They had been made to stand according to their classes and Aurora had gotten a glimpse of what her students looked like. There were about ten boys and girls - the obvious ‘leader’ a tall (at least for his age) boy with a rather friendly countenance. He had led his classmates into the room and made sure they were well organized.

She sat beside Sakura, who gave her a smile every now and then to ease her frazzled nerves. However, when her name was announced, she had to take several deep breaths, rubbed her damp palms across her thighs and somehow managed to walk up to the podium without falling flat on her face. There was a visible ‘awe’ amongst the students and she felt like she was being tested in some way. Coughing lightly, she took another deep breath before speaking slowly and clearly.

“Good morning, students. My name is Aurora Freewill and I’ll be your new substitute teacher for the term. I look forward to teaching you all…so…let’s have fun, okay? Thank you.”

She bowed and was rewarded with a rather rousing applause that sent her cheeks flushing with pleasure. She walked back to her seat with a smile of relief, only to catch Adam’s gaze on hers – dark and unreadable – which sent her pulses racing rather alarmingly. Almost tripping on her feet, she sank into the chair gratefully and clasped her hands tightly before her.

I don’t care. I don’t care what he thinks. As long as my students and other teachers believe in me, I could care less what he thinks about me.

“And now if teachers and students for each class will stay in their groups,” Hanada announced as he took over the podium again. “we’d like to take the class photographs now.”

Minor chaos ensued as teachers looked for their students and vice versa. Aurora was glad to see that the ‘leader’ of her class had already gotten them in a group and all turned to stare as she approached.

“Hello!” she greeted with a warm wave in English. She was their homeroom as well as English teacher, so she figured she might as well start off in that direction. She was dressed in a pair of black pants, a pale green blouse and flat soled shoes which felt heavenly on her feet. Her hair was done in a ponytail and brushed the nape of her neck with each step she took.

“Freewill sensei,” the ‘leader’ said as he walked up to her and bowed politely. “My name is Akira Takeshi and I’m eleven years old. Welcome to Morimoto Elementary, sensei.”

These were Adam’s students, she reminded herself as they all gave polite bows at the same time. She flushed and bowed as well, feeling her skin prickle with awareness. She was sure that Adam was watching her every move and as she stared into each smiling face, she knew deep down in her heart that everything was going to be just fine.

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She realized she had spoken too soon.

Once the photographs were taken care of – the snap sounds of the camera as well as the flashbulbs had given her a minor headache - the students were allowed to go their classrooms, while teachers made their way to the staff room to get last minute notes prepared.

“Good luck, Freewill sensei,” Sakura hailed as she disappeared into Class 3-B effectively leaving Aurora to her own devices. Taking a much-needed deep breath, she stood outside the door to her classroom before opening it to face…

“Eek!” She ducked, nearly missing the basketball intended for the door. The students, noticing that they were no longer alone, all scrambled to their respective chairs and desks and promptly looked like the innocent angels she had seen in the auditorium.

Oh God…what have I gotten myself into?

She smiled warmly at them and they smiled back as if on cue. It really was rather creepy if you thought too much about it. She tried to remember that these kids were not really from wealthy homes but rather children who came from families that didn’t place too much stock in education. These were kids, whose parents believed they were better off in the fields or in their family businesses instead of wasting precious hours within this building.

“Good morning,” she greeted in English before reverting back to Japanese as she picked up the ball and placed it upon the desk. A burly boy in the back room with red-dyed hair had thrown it and he looked rather embarrassed. “I guess we have already introduced ourselves earlier. But before we get started, I’d like to know your names and…”

“Mou…why didn’t Hayakawa sensei come back?” a girl with stringy black hair suddenly blurted out in a near whine. “We liked him better.”

“Idiot,” Akira hissed as he nudged her gently. “He’s still in school. He just had to teach another class.”

“But that’s not fair! Why do we have to be stuck with this gaijin?! She can’t even speak Japanese well.”

“She’s supposed to teach us English, Miho. English.”

“Well, I hate English.”

Aurora gripped the pen in her hand tightly, a childish part of her already hating Miho’s smart-assed remarks as well. But she was a teacher and she had to convince her students that English was the best thing in the world…second to the Japanese language of course.

Akira threw her an apologetic smile as the rest of the students shifted restlessly in their seats.

“All right,” she said as she picked up a piece of chalk. “Let’s try this again, shall we?” She turned to write her name on the board in bold letters, stiffening as she heard the low murmurs in the background. She closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down, knowing it wouldn’t do to raise her voice or to tell them to shut the fuck up.

She turned back to face the students and again they settled back into their chairs with angelic looks on their visages. She would seriously have to establish some rules here.

“My name is A-U-R-O-R-A F-R-E-E-W-I-L-L. Au-ro-ra Free-will. That is my name. Now, I want you all to do the same. You stand up. You point to yourself and you say ‘My name is…then you say your name, okay?”

They gave non-committal nods but at least they were listening and that was encouraging. Akira stood up first and pointed to himself. “My name is A-ki-ra Ta-ke-shi,” he said in slow but clear English and unable to stop herself, Aurora clapped in delight.

“That’s good, Akira! Now, you next.” She pointed towards Miho, who looked like she had no plans to stand up. However, (and with Akira’s light prodding) she reluctantly did so and pointed to herself.

“Mah name es Mi-ho Mi-ya-mi.”

She sat down quickly, flushing darkly as several of her classmates cheered her on. Aurora felt a smile coming to her visage as the rest of the students stood up to do the same. They seemed to be getting into it and before long; she had gotten them to walk up to the board to write their names. By the time the bell rung for the end of the period, the once clear blackboard was filled with all twenty names of Class 2-A students.

“Tomorrow, we will work on writing simple sentences and reading them. So keep practicing, okay?”

“HAAAAII!” they all yelled in unison, making Aurora wince before reminding herself to make sure she taught them to say ‘Yes, sir’ or ‘Yes, ma’am’ at the end of the day.

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“So how was your first day as a teacher?” Sakura asked as they walked out of the building after classes had ended.

Aurora smiled albeit wearily. “Took out a lot more than I had thought, but it was all right. They’re still trying to get used to me but I think things will get bet…”

The words faltered as she caught sight of the beautiful dark-haired woman standing beside the front gate. However, it wasn’t just the fact that she was there, but rather who she was with. It was Adam! He was standing before the mystery woman as they conversed as if they were long lost friends. Aurora was unaware of the low growl she was emitting as the woman leaned closer to wrap her arms around Adam’s neck. She felt something cold settle in the pit of her stomach and yet a pounding headache coming on.

The least he could have done was take his damn girlfriend inside! She thought fiercely even though a part of her wondered why she even gave a damn. She had no right to be jealous over Adam’s girlfriends.

“Freewill sensei…?” Sakura asked quietly as she noticed the frown on her companion’s visage. She wondered if she had said anything wrong, but realizing that Aurora’s attention wasn’t really on her, she turned to see what had her so enraptured. A smile crept to her lips slowly as she watched Adam and his woman.

However, the ever astute Sakura had the feeling that there was another woman who was wishing she could be right beside him at this very moment. She alternated glances between Adam and Aurora for a while and finally nodding softly to herself, she decided she’d take on the role of Cupid in this little unfolding drama.