Although the Headmistress was reasonably approachable she was a strict disciplinarian through and through. Her adamant technique reminded me that of Miss Donovan, only less pragmatic and abundantly thorough in her lectures. However, in spite of the white noise in my head, I was thoroughly enjoying U.S. World History.
It was one of my favorite classes which had sensibly worked out well considering it didnt involve math or the configuaration of checmical compounds, both of which had me feeling hazy like my head was full of dynamite.
The Headmistress held a deck of cards in her hand and read off them one by one and only gave that person a reasonable grade if she was satisfied with the answer.
In no alphabetical order she skimmed through her classroom roster breaking down questions that originated some place from inside our textbook, some of which came directly from the assignment we were given the other day. You would think it would have been easy, but that's not so. We weren't allowed to look at our notes, we had to rely on memory.
I'd soon come to learn that was how most of the classwork activities were done. It was pass the ball, in a sense, except there was nothing with a three dimensional surface to throw around.
The writing desks were methodically organized to fit a strategic circle instead of fanned out in columns like most classrooms I'd been to. The headmistress stood in the middle of our circle, eyeing us like she was a deadly red-tailed hawk ready to face off with a rattlesnake.
The headmistress speared one of the snickers with a dirty look before asking an even more obscure question about sir Ponce de Leon. So far he came up twice already.
I mentally superglued my fingers hoping I'd get something easy.
Increasingly I watched as the general atmosphere transgressed into a riot. It didn't help that Darcy jumped at the opportunity to poke fun of the course and its historic legends each time the headmistress switched cards.
With a stern look the headmistress had managed to gain the concentration of those with cocker spaniel attentenion spans that were shorter than average but I figured it was just a matter of time before something happened.
Meanwhile, Darcy was pounding aggresively on the desk with the meaty palms of his fists, ever so often tapping the edge of the wood like it was a snare drum, creating a rythm that fell just a couple beats short. You can take instrumentalist off the list.
"Yo, prof. You must get paid a lot to babysit. Otherwise why would you be here." Darcys voice blared in my left ear, making me cringe at the feeling of his nasty breath on me. That's it. Tomorrow I was sitting in another place.
"Why do you let them see you playing sticklers grandma for anyway. That's not a way of life. Its some subserviant bullcrap."
I didn't grow up proper but I thought someone should at least teach Darcy how to speak.
Here and there queries were probed. Not just Darcy this time. Other students galvanized in on the conversation.
"How much do you get paid. I bet a lot huh. My dad talks all the time about the checks he donates." this time, Brian said.
"Why would you want to be stuck with us for so many years when you could have three houses and be pampered in a four star resort or walking on the pale pink sands of Anse Source d'Argent and swimming in the shallow turqouise ocean of Seychelles." A very pretty girl without frizzy hair and porcelain skin that sat in front of me whose name was Avery, complains.
Avery had a low nasal bridge that went straight down and large broad tips that flared out like a rats. Even her high-pitched voice reminded me of a rat that squeaked. Not that I didnt like Avery, because she'd seemed nice enough but knowing her name was the extent of my knowing who she was. I was about as willing to introduce myself as she was.
"Exactly." Someone else agrees enthusiastically.
And it went like that back and forth. Darcy would instigate people into agreeing with him and the Headmistress would smile hate-fully. Personal questions no one had the right to ask were being hurtled at the headmistress as she stood up straight projecting rigid authority with a deadpan look on her face.
I couldn't tell if she was exasperated or disturbed or both.
It was the atypical big-rich conversation at Starkhouse that made me cringe. A reminder that I was out of my league if I thought I could blend in like a machiatto on ice.
No one besides the headmistress knew of my 'special circumstances' and I would never reveal that kind of information to them. Or to anyone. Public school was harsh enough thanks.
The headmistress gives a slight delicate nod of her head and shuffles the stack of cards indifferently like a playing deck. fffft. fftt. ffftt.
"I didnt know you were all so interested in me as a person." she asked in an icy tone of voice and looked around the room, narrowing her dark-green eyes into slits, daring some unlicky individual to dispute the facts.
The headmistress was hooked, sinked, and bait. Whether they were interested didn't matter.
The professors chest rises. The dazzling beads on her deep blue dress catches light. She smiled, not in an invitating manner. The smile that she gave was tightly forced.
"I'm set in my ways and I don't like to travel. I like my job as an educator and the board pays me well, not a lot to buy empty condos, Avery, but enough to keep me here long term."
more silence
I think they were just stunned that the headmistress answered back. I knew I was.
Her stare intimidating, she walks in a slow deliberate circle around us, signaling for a lazy mongor to sit in his seat like a mature young person and not an orengatang or occasionally she would point out their shoe laces needed some tending to. Always with that same regal-like air of authority that made her so good at her job. She didn't have to be here. As it happened for me, Starkhouse pulled the Headmistress in.
"That- quotation mark- bullcrap you're talking about, Darcy, is a necessity. Its called human interst, people. You know, the intstrumental practice of paying it forward. I teach young minds that have no more chances. It makes the stakes higher, which I would think you could all appreciate."
Not Darcy apparently. He continued acting out.
Like a coiled fuse that sprung high up on release, the headmistress striked out, her exasperation showed in her nasal grit as she chastised Darcy for behaving badly.
The way she demeaned Darcy he might as well have been a child.
I squirmed in my seat. She was getting closer and even though I wasn't on her radar her nearness was enough to keep me in check.
Blooming green eyes locked forward in a fixed gaze, forceful gait maneuvered with purposeful strides, the Imperial Headmistress latched onto Darcy like vapor on a mirror and didnt let go until she was certain he got the message. And boy, did he.
The cocky arrogant smile on Darcys face faltered.
"While outlandish your feeble attempt to sidetrack your peers from learning anything of value will not go unpunished. I assure you that I will not tolerate such behavior." The Headmistress scolds Darcy, a cold tone in her voice that promised long days served in detainment if he didn't do his job.
With the situation under control the headmistress continued on with the lesson.
"Verranazo went in search to find the northwest passage to Asia through North America. He saw the Pacific Ocean on his way to the Carolina Coast."
The Headmistress looks around the room and points to Wesley. Her lips twitched. That was as close to a smile as she'd ever gotten.
A few spots next to mine Wesley was the perfect obedient brown-nosed puppet. He remained silent unless prompted by the Headmistress.
"Is the statement True or False." good question.
The fact that I had no idea worried me. What if I had no clue when it was my turn? I would carry that torch for the rest of the day.
Instead of torturing myself about it, I looked over at Wesley for a distraction.
Darcy sat in between us but I could still see Wesleys face. He made eye contact with the headmistress, not intimidated and apprehensive like I was.
"Because of his error in judgement innacurate detail of North America was printed on maps all over Europe being shown as split in two equal parts, conencted by a narrow strip of land. This lapse of judgement took over a centurey to be corrected. Therefore the answer you're looking for is False."
"Well done Mr. AppleTree." she gives him praise before drawing another card.
His knowledge of American history impressed me. So far Wesley was consistent in his repsonse.
The Headmistress clears her throat and reads off the card as follows:
"With permission and funds collected from Ferdinand and the Queen, Columbus set on a voyage across the Ocean Sea to find a faster route to China and India. He used three ships: The Nina, The Pinta,...Which is the third used in a fleet?" One brow raised, the Headmistress sets her gaze on me while holding her retractable ruler pointed high in the air.
"Miss. Shriver." The Headmistress sneers at me unpleasantly. "Answer the question."
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