Kayleen gets a liberal education

KAYLEENE:

As a freshman in high school, I thought I was just about the most grown up person that lived. For reasons that only Mother Nature could understand I had grown into a body that looked at least three years older than my real age. Even my sister, who was two years older, was jealous of my figure and complexion. Mom used to joke about her being the only person she knew who wore hand-me-downs from her little sister. As a result, I began my ninth year of school riding a real wave.


The only problem is that my emotions and judgment were still that of an impressionable thirteen-year-old girl. Therefore, when our class sponsor, Mr. Reeves, asked me to be his special assistant, I fell for his suggestion without thinking what was involved. Mr. Reeves was an absolutely gorgeous hunk! He was of Hispanic descent, with a kind of permanent tan, thick black hair and an incredible build and amazingly white teeth which he flashed often. He was an assistant football coach in addition to teaching Spanish and Social Studies.

It was during the second week of school when Mr. Reeves asked me to come to his office after lunch. Since I had a free period, I was only too happy to comply. In the decade of the nineties, I would have known better, perhaps I should have known better in 1982, but there hadn’t been the publicity on TV about child abuse by teachers, preachers and other authority figures. I could hardly wait for lunch to be over so I could go to his office. I didn’t even think it was strange when he told me I shouldn’t tell anyone that I had an appointment with him.

I slipped down the hallway to where the teachers had their private offices. Since Mr. Reeves was a coach, his office was close to the athletic wing. In fact, he had a back door from his office that opened into the hallway of the dressing room area for the gymnasium. I knocked gently on the door, which immediately swung open. Mr. Reeves invited me in and motioned for me to sit on an upholstered chair beside his desk. He sat on his chair and turned it so that we were facing each other. Mr. Reeves smiled at me flashing his brilliant white teeth. My heart did a little flutter as I clasped my hands and slid them between my knees leaning forward.

“Every year I try to pick a student who shows a lot of promise to be my assistant. This year, I have chosen you as my special assistant, that is if you are interested,” he explained, and again flashed his teeth.

I was trying to be cool, so asked him what his special assistant did. He explained that I would help him copy papers, sort homework papers into alphabetical order, and generally assist him in routine office work. I was to come by on Monday, Wednesday and Friday right after lunch starting next Monday.

“Oh, by the way, let’s not say anything to the other kids, I find that if they know you are helping out a teacher they get jealous and give you a hard time.”

On Monday I walked with the crowd toward the classrooms. When the rest of them turned to go down the various class wings, I simply went down the teacher’s wing. Since no one knew what classes I had, no one missed me. I knocked gently on the door to Mr. Reeve’s office then opened the door. He smiled at me flashing his teeth and motioned for me to sit at the worktable. He handed me several stacks of paper and asked me to sort them into stacks then staple them for class handouts the next day. It took about forty-five minutes to finish the work. Mr. Reeves stayed busy correcting papers and marking the grades in his student book. When I finished, he chatted with me until time for my next class.

The next two weeks went about the same, with me doing routine collating of papers and other miscellaneous tasks. I began to notice that there was less and less work and more and more chatting. Slowly, subtly the sessions began to change. He began asking me questions about what I liked, my favorite music, sports, anything to keep me talking about myself. I was flattered that he was interested in me and began to picture myself as his special friend. I even began fantasizing about kissing him and feeling his arms around me. Some of the boys I had walked home with from school in the eighth grade had tried to kiss me. Sometimes I had let a couple of them do it, so I thought I knew all about how to kiss a man.

A week or two later I mentioned his large collection of various pill bottles on the bookshelf behind his desk. He said that he sold special vitamins to athletes.

“I have been thinking that you might benefit from some vitamins. Since you work for me, I would give them to you for nothing. I can’t legally pay you for assisting me, and this would be a way to make it more even,” he explained.

I asked him what the vitamins were for, and he said that they were general-purpose vitamins that were specially formulated for growing teen-age girls. I agreed to take the vitamins, so Mr. Reeves said he would have them the next time I came in. Sure enough, he had a bottle of capsules waiting in addition to a card with twenty-eight tablets in little plastic bubbles. It was an interesting card, with four rows of little pink pills but on the fourth row, there were two pink pills and five gray pills. He told me to take one of the capsules every morning before breakfast. When I asked him about the card of pills, he said that before he told me how to use them he needed to ask a very personal question if it was OK.

“Sure, I don’t have anything to hide from anyone.”

“This is really personal, so please don’t be offended. — I need to know when your next period is supposed to start.”

“Mr. Reeves, what does that have to do with vitamins,” I asked incredulously, blushing a brilliant red.

”I told you it was very personal. It’s just that these tablets are specially formulated for teen-age girls, and since you need special vitamins during your period, they need to be taken in conjunction with your regular menstrual cycle. You don’t need to be embarrassed. All girls have periods.”

“Well, OK, I guess, if you really need to know, I just started my period yesterday.”

“Good,” he replied, “That means we can get you started right away. Now, let’s see, if you started yesterday, that means next Monday will be the fifth day, so on Monday morning start taking one of the little pink pills every day, and when you get to the gray ones just take it instead of the pink pill. Any questions?”

I shook my head and slipped the vitamins into my purse.

“One thing more,” Mr. Reeves cautioned, “Some parents get concerned if they see their kids taking pills, so maybe you should just keep them out of sight.”

“Don’t worry, I’m getting tired of my mother’s constant direction and wouldn’t tell her for the world!”

“I knew you were a special girl the first time I saw you,” he said smiling. “I think you are a very mature young lady, and expect great things from you this year. Why don’t you take the rest of the period off and I’ll have some work for you Friday. Oh! By the way, you might feel a little strange for the first few days you take your vitamins. Sometimes it takes the body a month or so to get used to the extra energy, so don’t worry if you feel a little queasy for a few days.”

I left feeling warm all over that he thought I was mature. I spent the rest of the day dreaming about him and how lucky I was to be alone with him three hours a week. The next Monday he asked if I remembered to start taking my vitamins. I nodded with a little blush, realizing he knew that I had just finished my period. He didn’t seem to notice my discomfort, but asked if I felt OK. I nodded again, saying I felt just fine. Mr. Reeves had a lot of papers for me to arrange, so most of the period was taken up with office work. The next time I went into the office, Mr. Reeves was sitting at his desk with a sad look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s OK, Kayleene; I don’t want to bother you with my problems.”

“It’s no bother, you are helping me out and I would be happy to help you out if there was any way I could,” I replied trying to feel very adult.

“Well, it’s my wife; she is treating me really bad. She just doesn’t understand me,” he sighed. “She’s grouchy all the time and is always making hateful remarks to me,” he said with tears welling up in his eyes.

I felt so bad for him that I just wanted to take him in my arms and cuddle him. How could that awful woman treat such a wonderful man as Mr. Reeves so bad, I thought.

“I’m really sorry, and I just can’t understand how anyone could make hateful remarks about you. I think you are just about the most wonderful person I know,” I said shyly.

“Oh Kayleene, you don’t know how much better that makes me feel,” he exclaimed as he flashed his big white smile at me. “You have already made him feel a lot better. I think we should just talk today since you made me feel so good.”

He told me about his childhood and how hard he had to work. His family was very poor and he had to work to support his little sisters and brothers. In spite of all this, he made it through high school and college.

“Why did you marry a woman who is so mean?” I asked innocently.

“Well, she was a friend of his family, and my mother wanted me to marry her so she could have a chance to get out of the poor family she came from. She was cute, so I thought I could learn to love her.”

The bell rang, so I gathered up my books and started for the door. Mr. Reeves stood and walked with me. Just as I reached for the doorknob, he touched my arm. I turned toward him, and found myself in his arms. He held me close for a second or two then gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

“Thanks for helping me to feel better; you are really a special girl.”

Then, he opened the door and held it as I floated out. My head was in a spin. Mr. Reeves had kissed me! If the rest of the girls knew, I would be the envy of every freshman girl in the school. I sure wasn’t going to tell.