THE TEACHER

Chapter seven

The bike was almost back to its original splendor, as Abby just needed to wash and reassemble the last few pieces. She loved constructing and repairing things, and she had learnt how to assemble a bike when she was just eleven: it was another skill her father had taught her, in case of need, which turned out to be very useful as a way to cure her boredom.

She finally fastened the last bolt, when a knock on the garage door made her turn around.

"Hello, honey," Alex's smile radiated into the confined space. "Are you ready to go?"

"Hey. Give me a second, will ya? I'll be right there."

Abigail checked if everything was in the correct place, and spun the wheels of the bike a few times to make sure that the chain was working. She knew she had done everything correctly; she had been doing it for years, but it was an old habit her dad had left her. At last, she carefully lifted the bike and put it down on the ground, glad to have finished working to finally go out with her girlfriend. She had been looking forward to their date for the whole day, and rebuilding her bike was the only thing that could distract her – especially since she couldn't head to the pool, being closely watched by her stepfather.

"Where are we going?" asked Abigail, taking Alex's hand in hers.

"You'll see," winked the other girl, showing off a very joyful smile.

They got in the red pickup truck and Alex started driving to the very secret location, as she had done for the last weeks, since the moment they had got together. They would have many date nights, and if possible, Abby would spend the night at her girlfriend's, just to avoid being in the same house as her mom and her stepdad. They had fun, they learnt how to spend most of their time together, and they laughed the whole time; it was like it was meant to be.

After a quick stop at McDonald's and many songs shouted in the car, Alex finally pulled up at a parking lot, surrounded by many other cars of all kinds. She stopped the engine and turned to a very confused Abigail, who was still clueless about their plan for the evening.

"Is this a car meeting?" she chuckled, looking around.

"Hon, it's a cinema drive-in."

"Oh my god, so cool! I didn't even know they made these!" Abby's eyes lit up, as she became more and more excited about the date. "What are we watching?"

"Some oldie, I don't remember the name of it though."

After a few minutes of opening credits, the movie finally began and Abigail had no doubt: it was The Wrecking Crew, a movie she remembered to be very much enjoyed by her grandparents but hadn't yet had the chance to watch.

"I've been wanting to watch it for ages!" she exclaimed, almost screaming in Alex's ears.

"I have never seen it, but I'm pleased you're interested. I guess this will make me a very lucky gal tonight?"

"The luckiest one in the land," nodded Abby, before placing a gentle kiss on her girlfriend's lips.

Another day at school was over, at least for most of the teachers working there. Since almost all of them had kids and families to go home to, they quickly waved goodbye to their colleagues and soon enough the enormous parking lot outside the big grey building was empty. Except for one white car, that patiently waited for its owner to come back for hours after the last bell rang.

Melissa Bennett was too busy to go home, she still had to plan out her lessons to come, grade tests, assign homework: she couldn't afford to go back home, not even if she had plans with her new boyfriend, Tom. Her work had always come first in her life, maybe because she never truly found a reason to care about anything else.