And She Said Goodbye (excerpt)

She saw him from time to time afterwards, always in the same corridor that she had dropped her books. He had gotten into the habit of waving at her whenever they met. Sometimes he even stopped her to ask how dance was going or if she had done any new art projects. He had been so impressed by her painting that he couldn't seem to stop pestering her about seeing more of her work. Sitting in the warm little office, she had done a brief sketch and watercolor reproduction of Botticelli's Pomegranate. He had told her in a hushed voice that she had talent. Perfectly bony hands for sketching, a good eye for detail and a well grounded sense of dimension.

He wanted to take her on as a student, but she was hardly passing her other classes so she declined. It was back to sitting in the far corner of the classroom, forcing herself to pay attention. Though somehow she found that she couldn't stay focused. She kept thinking about the expression on that teacher's face and the warmth of his compliments. No one had ever complimented her on her artwork before. No one had ever shown any interest in anything that she did. It left an odd taste in her mouth and a strange feeling in her stomach.

For the rest of the month she decided not to use the hallway to get to her classes. She found that she was suddenly overcome with a sort of shyness of the man. She was overwhelmed by his constant praise and ill at ease whenever he was around. Her heart would start to flutter and her face would flush. The feelings that came with him were foreign and she didn't like them, so she avoided him altogether.

Until one Sunday afternoon in the church chapel when their meeting became unavoidable.

"Hey, I know you."

Michelle spun around, a little bit flustered after leaving her coat on her chair after the service. Her hair was a frazzled mess and her church dress hung at an odd angle off of her shoulders. She hardly wanted to see anyone that she knew, but when she turned and saw who it was that was speaking to her she completely forgot the state that she was in. She blinked, "It's you, what are you doing here?"

The art teacher looked down at her with his laughing eyes and cocked his head, "I don't look like one of the Sunday folk?"

Those feelings were returning again as she gazed up at him. There was a tightening in her throat and a pressure on her heart. She felt the overwhelming urge to get away from him, but now that she was in his presence, she found that for some strange reason could not. She tried her best to shrug off the feelings that were churning like a whirlpool inside of her. She tried her best to return to her usual poised self.

"No," she said bluntly, folding her arms over her chest. "I was in your office for an hour. I noticed the titles of your books. Modern Philosophy, the Heart of Hindu, the Path to Satanism. You're the last person I'd ever expect to see here."

"Okay you caught me," he said with a grin. "I'm a poor teacher. I work odd jobs to keep my apartment." He motioned to a mop and a pail of water in the corner of the chapel. "Janitor."

"I see," she said, looking him up and down. He certainly didn't look like a janitor. The light of the stained glass windows cloaked his shoulders and white buttoned down shirt, making him look young and full of life. His authority was haloed in the brilliance of his golden hair and delicately squared jaw, and his kindness was apparent in his calculating gray eyes. For a teacher he was exceptionally handsome. She couldn't get her heart to stop fluttering.

"I recognized you before I met you at school," he smiled, propping himself up against one of the pews. "You come here a lot don't you? After the services are over. You just come and sit and stare up at the ceiling. Are you praying or is this place sort of like your tranquilizer? I know that it is for me."

"Both I guess," she replied, hugging her coat to herself shyly. "This place is sort of therapeutic for me. Though, I haven't been praying quite as much lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm really into my religion… I'm just taking a break."

"Well, everyone needs a little break sometimes. Even God took one. The seventh day of creation."

"It makes me feel like crap though," she confessed.

"Because you aren't confessing your sins?" he wondered, making a face.

"Because I'm angry at God so I'm not talking to Him," Michelle said flatly.

"You're angry at God… so you're not talking to him…." he asked, speaking each word slowly as though he wanted a feel for each one.

"I prayed and prayed for something. I put all of my faith in that prayer and in the end the worst circumstance came through anyways. So I'm angry okay?"

"And that's why you come to the church every afternoon, so that you can sulk in God's presence?"

At once Mish realized exactly how childish she sounded and she flushed. "Yes…. And because it's beautiful here."

"Well there are plenty of other beautiful places where you can sulk and try to get back at Him," he grinned. "I'll show you one if you'd like. You look like you're in need of a serious pick me up. I just finished up in here, so I can take you once I put everything away. Well, if it's okay with your parents that you're hanging around with an old man like me, of course."

"They're at home fighting as usual," she muttered. "No one'll miss me."

He caught the bitterness on her face and put a hand on her shoulder, "I missed you." He gave her a kindly pat on the back and smiled.

A few weeks later they were dating.

In the time that they had been together they had visited every inspiring place in town. Art museums, libraries, music halls and even to see one of the new solo performances on G street. It seemed like everywhere they went had to do with the fine arts and the art teacher himself seemed to be a genius at all of them. In the music hall he would sing along with the orchestra, tapping his finger on Michelle's shoulder. In the museums he would give his expert opinion on every single piece of art and explain that no matter how they looked, stylistically each was a perfect masterpiece. At the solo performance he harmonized under his breath and urged Mish to hum with him.

Michelle soon found herself blushing every time that he looked at her, overwhelmed with shyness each time his hand brushed her own, trembling slightly when he smiled. In the chilly winter morning his laughter brought color to her cheeks. She shrugged it off as admiration, though she couldn't deny the fact that she felt a little silly inside every time she looked at him. A hair blown out of place inspired within her a surge of affection, a button on his shirt that had come undone a mounting obsession. When they entered the dance hall and he took her hands to show her how to salsa, she was at a loss for words.

He told her, with a smile, that she was in love. She believed him with her whole heart and soul. It didn't matter that he was seven years older, or that he was a teacher at her school. It didn't matter because he was her teacher in the matters of the heart, tutoring her in what he called 'the True Philosophy of Living'.

They made love for the first time in his little apartment. It was small and smelled of coffee grinds and acrylic paint, and sunlight streamed through the faded curtains and across the many unfinished canvases that were strewn in pleasant disarray around the room. Dusty covers draping over them, they rode out their passions together and collapsed in a breathless embrace. He closed his eyes, she opened hers.

"I love you," Mish said, brushing the soft blonde hair from his face.

He kissed her cheek and asked, "What's you're name?"

"Michelle. What's yours?"

"Daniel." He kissed her again.

-Lauren Hatch

So obviously it's an excerpt. Haha, I thought for sure that this book would be the proverbial 'ONE', but of course I got side tracked, lost interest and never finished. I tend to do that. The only project that I've ever actually ended up finishing was Wings of Solitude, which took me three years and needed to be scrapped anyways. Gosh, that was a bummer. Eight hundred sixty pages of crap... Well it was my first book! Oh well.

So And She Said Goodbye is a pretty easy going little story about this girl who falls in love with her teacher. He breaks up with her one day and leaves behind a book that he was writing and a journal and she finds out later on that he died of a brain tumor. His book was based on the time he spent with her in his last days, and she realizes some really long sappy moral that changes her life. Yeah, that's about the story. I was going for something that could easily be made into a chick flick. Haha. Well this was from the very first chapter of it. Too bad I didn't finish.

Lauren signing off!! ♥