'I… just a minute, and I'll be with you.'
What I could do was beyond me, but whatever it was had to be fast, If I was going to avoid any suspicion at What had just gone on in my room.
CHAPTER THREE
My two young Lotharios lay grinning beside me, fully aware of my agitation. Yet neither of them so much as made a move towards leaving the bed or putting their clothes back on. Weren't they as scared as I was of being caught in such a compromising position?
1 jerked open a suitcase and threw on a robe, kicking my panties and other clothes under the bed as I did so. I patted my hair into place and hissed 'Get the hell off the bed and into the bath room and take every stitch of clothes with you!'
They grudgingly did as I said, much too slowly for my frayed nerves. The girl hadn't knocked again yet; but I could fairly feel her presence on the other side of the door, and I was wondering how the hell I could justify the ungodly time it was taking me to open the door. After all, she was another female. It wouldn't be any big deal for her to see me less than fully clothed.
When I finally opened it, I was faced by a girl about my own age, with hair as blonde as mine was dark, and with a warm smile on her face. She stuck out her hand.
'Hi,' she said, 'I'm Kate Windstrom. I teach here too. Cliff told me you had arrived and I wanted to stop by and welcome you. We're pretty informal here at Brightwater School.'
Her friendly manner was so open and warm that it relaxed me considerably. I shook her hand and stepped back from the door, inviting her inside with a sweep of my fingers.
'How nice of you to come by,' I said.
Then I remembered how she had addressed me as 'Ms. Ward' when she was knocking on the door. 'My name's Millicent,' I told her. 'Millie to friends. I couldn't help noticing how you called me ‘Ms.' instead of ‘Miss' or ‘Mrs.' That's a welcome thing to bear after my last job, I can tell you.'
Kate grinned. 'You mean you had to work around male chauvinist pigs who made a big deal out of whether you were married or not? You won't find that here at Brightwater. Not from anyone-women or men. No one here gives a damn about your personal life beyond what you choose to tell them.'
I was liking the girl more and more.
'I had to work around enough pigs to make it a big drag to go to work every day… enough of them to make me want to get away to a new job at a place like I hoped thi8 would be. By the way, by old terminology I'm a ‘Miss.' I'm not married.'
'Me either,' Kate answered. 'Haven't yet run across a guy I'd want to be with forever. Not by a long shot.'
'I think I'm going to like it here,' I admitted. 'Seems very low-key and not the least up tight.'
'You chose right if that's the kind of place you were looking for,' Kate said.
I was still a little squeamish about the state of my bed, even though the boys were hidden away in the bath room. When her eyes wandered to the rumpled bedcovers, it was all I could do to keep my composure and avoid getting red in the face.
'I was pretty bushed after my trip all the way out here,' I ventured apologetically. 'I… had slipped into bed for a little rest just as soon as I got all my luggage in.'
Kate waved her hand understandingly. 'No sweat. I know you must be tired so I won't keep you… I want one thing-when you saw Cliff a little while ago, did he have One of the young students with him? A kid named Tim? He said he'd have Tim come by my room this afternoon and give me a hand with some things.'
Her last sentence seemed a little strained.
'Tim's a kid, in Cliff's care-group,' she explained.
'No,' I answered, then quickly changing what I'd said. 'Oh yes, wait a minute… that must be the kid Cliff asked to bring my luggage up. But he's gone now. I… don't know where he is.'
I hoped I hadn't sounded too devious or nervous I never ‘was a' very good liar.
'What's a ‘care-group,' anyway?' I asked welcoming a chance to change the subject. 'Isn't that the word you used?'
'Yes,' explained Kate. 'That's what we call ‘the group of kids assigned to each teacher here at Brightwater. You'll be getting your care-group yourself. It's sort of like a home-room class in a public school. Only it's much more personal. You know, you get to know the kids better, and you're responsible for them in a more all-inclusive way than simply concern about their academic progress. It's a great system. I dig it.'
When Kate left, giving me a friendly wave and saying we would have to get together soon, I was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved that I'd finally gotten rid of her without having the boys discovered, in my room, and disappointed that I bad lacked the opportunity to talk longer with her. She seemed like a really nice girl and I was sure that we were going to get along swell as fellow teachers. It was obvious that she was no stick-in-the- mud.
When I opened the bathroom door the boys had all their clothes on. I told them they'd have to leave pronto, but first I wanted to check the hall to make sure no one saw the two of them sneaking out of my room.
'Who's going to sneak?' posed Tim.
'Yeah,' parroted Petey, 'who's gonna sneak out?'
'It's no big deal for us to be here, Teach,' Tim continued. 'You think this is the only time we've ever been in a teacher's room? Ha, what a laugh!'
'I'm more than just a teacher,' I reminded them. 'I'm a female teacher. And a brand-new one at that. If you'd been in some male teacher's room it would be entirely different.'
'You don't have to remind us you're female,' Tim cracked, a big smile on his face.
'Not hardly,' chirped Petey. 'Not after-'
'Just keep your traps shut,' I scolded, feeling myself start to get red in the face. 'And if r ever hear of either one of you repeating what happened here, I'll… I'll… '
I couldn't think of anything for a proper threat, so I ended by warning them, 'You'd just better not, that's all!'
Even though they wore halfway through the door way, Tim was still blabbing.
'You mean you didn't like it?' he accused incredulously. 'You're never gonna make us believe that. Right, Petey?'
'Right!' exclaimed his partner in crime.
'What… what took place here this afternoon was… was something very unusual,' I stammered. '… Something that'll never happen again, I can assure you. Just remember that, and see that you don't mention it again. Understood?'
'Okay, okay,' they nodded.
But just before I closed the door behind them Tim flung a parting shot. 'Better watch what you're doing, Teach,' he snickered, pointing to my chest. 'Looks like something's trying to get out of there. And if it does, you just might get all hot and bothered again-especially if-'
'Goodbye!' I said, closing the door behind them with finality and breathing a sigh of relief.
I looked down at the front of my robe and sure enough, one of my boobs had somehow become bared all the way to the point. A nipple was peeping out from the folds, in plain view of whoever might have been, there to see it.
I tugged it closer and thought of the view I'd accidentally given the two boys. They had seen plenty of me, for sure, and hardly needed more in fact, they had seen (and done!) more than enough to get me fired from any normal school!
I went ahead, unpacking and musing over everything that had happened. I could only hope and pray that Brightwater was as liberal and open-minded as I had been made to think. If, not, I was going to be in big trouble.
