Forbidden Love novel Chapter 5

The week following the family dinner went by in a flash. It mainly consisted of my grading the projects my students did. Parent teacher conferences were coming up and, honestly, I’m not too nervous about them. Probably because I don’t meet the children’s actual parents, just their caretakers.

But, for the parents that do come, they’re usually snobbish and turn their noses up at me—which is to be expected. But the comments are honestly not needed. I don’t need them to criticize my work and how I teach their kids when, truthfully, their kids are doing good in my class. I also don’t need them to scrutinize my colorful classroom. Kids learn better when they’re not in a plain old classroom

The rest of the teachers seem to think otherwise, though. Their classrooms are all dull and have little to no life in them. There’s not even a single plant in sight. And, honestly, I couldn’t just get my colorful classroom. I had to fight for it since the principal of the school was mad and didn’t like it. When she realized I wasn’t going to back down, she let me have my way.

Sighing in relief—since I had just graded the last paper—I relaxed on the ground which I was sitting on. I stayed there with my eyes closed for a few seconds before I opened them and realized it was late. Very late, at about 11 PM. I had to get up early in the morning too since I had to let the early kids into the school.

I took a soothing shower before brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed. By the time I was ready to sleep, it was 11:45 and I was extremely exhausted. Keeping up a facade gets tiring which is why I’m always lazy and tired.

Right before I drifted off to dreamland, I remembered a gorgeous pair of deep carmel eyes staring into my own and a small smile spread across my face.

. . .

“Alright, kiddos. Don’t forget to remind your parents that parent teacher conferences are tonight, if you were scheduled to have it tonight. Okay?”

“Yes, Ms. Aisha!” the students replied in usion.

Tonight is the first night where I was gonna be talking to every single one of my student’s parents about how their students have been doing. Over the past few weeks I’ve been giving them tests to see how much they’ve learned and what I need to work on them. Every single one of them had their own little struggles but only three of my students were really struggling: Jasmine, William, and Devora.

I don’t want to tell their parents about them struggling since they might feel like their child isn’t smart enough and possibly get mad at the child, so I decided to tutor them all personally so by the end of the year, they would improve and be ready to go to the next grade.

I made sure I asked the principal for permission and thankfully she granted it, thinking it was a good idea. (Surprisingly she just went along with it and didn’t argue about it to me.)

The children file in a single line while I grab my black coat. I put it on while walking with them outside. All of the kids had their nannies waiting for them except Jasmine, and I honestly feel really bad for her.

Usually her dad picks her up but two times, and two times only, her mom came to pick her up. And both times, her mom was disrespectful and snobby. Unlike Jasmine, she had blonde curly hair. She also had dark brown eyes that had no life in them whatsoever. She was fit but not very tall, maybe about 5’5. And, god, the clothes. Everything she wore was expensive.

When she—Jasmine’s mom—came to pick Jasmine up, she always just said two words: Let’s go. She didn’t hug her, ask her how her day at school was—nothing. Maybe both times she was in a rush to get somewhere but still. It doesn’t take five minutes to say “Hey, Jasmine! How are you? How was school?” and then continue the conversation in the car.

Evern Jasmine seemed uncomfortable when her mom came to pick her up. But what could I do? I don’t have proof or anything against Jasmine’s mom. And if I tried to speak up, the school would surely fire me. Besides, I might be wrong. I might be reading everything the wrong way.

Soon enough, every kid was gone except Jasmine, again. I can tell she was about to cry because her lips kept going down in a frown and her eyes were starting to water. I quickly grabbed her hand and went to sit on the bench with her. I took out a lollipop from my jacket and handed it to her without saying a word.

She smiled and put it in her mouth after taking the wrapper off. I chuckled at her eagerness.

“Thank you,” she said whilst enjoying the lollipop. We sat in comfortable silence before I heard a male voice and a female voice arguing. I thought they were going to fade away—I hoped they were going to fade away—but they just got closer and closer until I found out who those voices belonged to.

They belonged to Lisa, Jasmine’s mother, and Elijah. I swiftly turned to look at Jasmine and I saw that she looked a little worried. I told her to cover her eyes so she doesn’t have to hear her parents arguing and so I can talk to her parents.

By now, Elijah and Lisa were walking towards Jasmine and I. I got up from my seat and decided to talk.

“Excuse me?” I interrupted them both. They both turned to look at me but Lisa didn’t care about what I had to say because she continued yelling after seeing it was me who said excuse me.

I scoffed. “I’m so sorry, Lisa, but what you will not do is start an argument in front of the school and your daughter. That’s not acceptable and you should know to be a better mother than that,” I sternly told her.

Her jaw dropped. “Who the hell do you think you are?” she yelled.

Elijah sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Enough, Lisa. Jasmine’s right there,” he told Lisa.

She turned to him. “Oh, so now you’re gonna defend your hoe? Don’t think I’m stupid, I know you’ve been sleeping with her. Jasmine speaks about her at home all the time!”

“Mrs. Lisa, that’s enough,” I cut her off. “I’m Jasmine’s teacher. Please, I don’t need name calling here. As of now, I don’t feel safe sending her home with you.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my, I am so sorry for this inconvenience. I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. You’re not a hoe, I just misunderstood things.” She smiled softly. “It’s just Jasmine loves you a lot and I got the wrong idea, you know?”

I didn’t know but I nodded my head along with her anyways. She was acting like a child; I didn’t even know how and why Jasmine and Elijah put up with her.

I looked over at Jasmine. Her ears were still covered and the lollipop was still in her mouth. I beamed happily at her obedience. While Lisa was still apologizing and rambling, I walked over to Jasmine and so did Elijah. I bent down so we were about the same height then I tapped her leg and told her to take her hands off her ears.

“You ready to go home, sweetheart?” I asked.

She immediately shook her head no. “I want to stay here with you, Ms. Aisha.”

I smiled sadly. “You can’t, I have to go home to get ready for conferences, remember?”

She pouts. “But I want to stay here with you.”

I thought for a moment. “How about you come with daddy to the conference and we can hangout then, alright? I’ll even give you a present if you’re on your best behavior,” I settle on saying. She nodded happily and got off the bench to hug me. I hugged her back.

“Bye, Ms. Aisha,” she said, waving.

“Bye, sweetie,” I replied. She grabbed Elijah’s but before the two talked away, Elijah apologized and said a quick thanks. I just nodded my head before I realized Lisa wasn’t anywhere to be seen. She probably left.

Sighing, I walked away. I still can’t believe Lisa had the audacity to say that to me. I got into my car and drove off to my house so I could get ready for the conferences. The whole time, I tried taking my mind off what Lisa said and instead focused on the conferences.

. . .

The parent teacher conferences were much longer than I had originally anticipated. The parents actually came (I know, shocking) and were asking so many questions. They even kept asking the same questions over and over again but just worded them differently. Hopefully they don’t think I’m stupid since I didn’t bother to change the wording of the answers I gave them multiple times.

I met with everyone except the last two people, which were Jasmine and Elijah. And they were supposed to arrive in a few moments.

“Ms. Aisha!” Perfect timing.

Jasmine ran into the classroom and ran up to hug me. I picked her up and twirled her around a bit before I put her down. She broke down into a fit of giggles.