“Please don’t.” But it was useless since Mairi’s brain had also started to recall the incident – every embarrassing second of it.
It had been her first day to teach in GAYL and Rose had made a huge deal out of it, taking the time to introduce Mairi to the entire student body during the morning ceremony. Rose had boasted about Mairi being the author of a bestselling phrasebook on Amazon and raved about her fluency in several languages as well as her ability to read hieroglyphics.
“And so without further ado, I present to you Ms. Mairi Tanner, the most eloquent individual you would probably ever meet in your life.”
Rose had then gestured for her to ascend to the stage and she had done so with quaking knees, her underarms perspiring at the sight of over a thousand students gazing at her expectantly.
A microphone had then been thrust into her hands.
Rose had nodded at her encouragingly.
Stage fright kicked in, followed by mental block, and as the silence extended, Mairi whispered weakly in the microphone, “Yay me?”
It took over a second for the students to recover from their shock before they all laughed good-naturedly and gave her a standing ovation. She had been nicknamed Ms. Yay after that.
Wincing at the memory, Mairi smacked her own forehead. “That was seriously the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
Diana giggled even more.
“It’s not that funny,” Mairi grumbled.
“It is. But in a good way, Ms. Yay.”
“Hmph,” was all she said, which for some reason made Diana laugh harder.
When the girl’s laughter died down, Mairi asked very casually, “Has your family arrived?” From what little Diana had confided to her in the past, Mairi had pieced enough of the girl’s history to realize that Diana felt terribly neglected by her widowed mother.
Diana shook her head, her silky ebony hair swaying against her school jacket as she did. “Mother is too busy for something like this.” She spoke with perfect English – too perfectly, in her opinion. It was strange, but Mairi had a feeling that getting Diana to say ‘yeah’ rather than ‘yes’ would be one of her biggest accomplishments in her teaching career.
“And your brother?” she prompted. Not much was written about Diana’s only sibling, Damen Leventis, but then again he was a Greek billionaire who owned one of the largest media empires in the world. If he wanted the paparazzi to shut up about him, then it would.
Mairi had briefly toyed with the idea about Diana’s brother being the one she was meant to live happily ever after with, but the more she got to know her student, the more Mairi was convinced that the Greek billionaire might be too cold and stuck-up for her liking. Her brother had to be the world’s most heartless individual if he didn’t appreciate how sweet Diana was.
Diana said unhappily, “My brother might not come even though he promised. He may suddenly be busy, too.”
“I’m sure that’s not the case,” Mairi lied even though she secretly feared the same. Velvet would warn her against giving students false hope, but she couldn’t help it. For Mairi, it wasn’t false. There was always hope. It was that simple.
At Diana’s noncommittal shrug, she suggested, “He could be caught in traffic.”
“My brother does not like to ride in cars much. He’ll probably sail or fly here.”
“Then maybe his, umm, yacht or private jet’s caught in traffic?”
Diana choked.
She protested half-indignantly, “That could happen, right? Haven’t you ever watched The Jetsons---” At Diana’s blank look, Mairi realized the girl was too young to know about the rather old school animation series. “Never mind.”
Diana shook her head. “You are so funny, Ms. Yay.”
“Seriously, stop that. You know Ms. Thorn doesn’t like it when students give teachers nicknames.”
Diana said shyly, “I really like you, Ms. Tanner. You are so optimistic.”
Mairi gave her student a mock scowl. “And you are so going to get an F on your next test. You totally said that like you meant to say I’m naïve!”#p#分页标题#e#
“If the shoe fits,” Diana retorted, a grin tugging at her lips.
Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be? You’re not even going to take it back?”
“Ms. Tanner, I like you being, umm, optimistic. It is better than being sad or cynical.”
“Exactly,” a voice behind them said.
Mairi twisted around, surprised at the unexpected intrusion of a dark Greek-sounding voice.
“You made it!” Diana was on her feet in an instant, lovely face glowing as she threw her arms around---