Honorera felt awkward sitting in her English class once she realized that the man in her dreams was none other than Mr. Shepherd. It was weirdly intimate, as though she had seen him naked. She sat in the back of the classroom and kept staring at him, memorizing his features, and sometimes even absently doodling his likeness in her notebooks.
Worse still, he seemed to feel her stare and often turned to meet her eyes. There was a strange feeling, a searing heat in her chest whenever their gazes locked, and she struggled to tear her eyes away from his mesmerizing silver-gray orbs. Mr. Shepherd liked to pace through the classroom as he taught the class and when he came near her desk, her heart started to pound as if she had just sprinted across the football field. Sometimes he smiled at her, and she imagined that it was a special smile meant just for her. She almost believed it was a knowing smile, that seemed to suggest that he knew exactly what she was feeling.
It was impossible that Mr. Shepherd could understand her feelings because she couldn’t even sort themselves out for herself. Never in her life had she felt so aware of another human being, so drawn to them.
Every day Honorera wasted no time darting out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, just to avoid any actual contact with the substitute teacher. She was terrified he would find out how she was feeling about him, and she would be left exposed, and vulnerable. She was thankful for the silly gaggle of girls that always entrapped him after the bell with useless questions, begging for his attention. Sometimes she thought she felt his eyes following her out the door, but she was sure it must be her imagination. Her strange infatuation with him was surely only one-sided.
On Wednesday she trudged her way to the girls' locker room for gym. She hated PE, but it was a requirement for graduation. Honorera always shut herself in the bathroom stall to change her clothes, she let any of the other girls see her scarred skin or the never-ending rainbow of bruises. She pulled on her gym shorts and a tank top and covered it all with her usual oversized hoodie. Reluctantly, she shuffled out of the locker room into the gym with her head down, bracing herself for another hour of mocking and torture.
Her classmates were twittering and whispering with unusual fervor. Why? She became immediately hypervigilant. She peered up through her hair and found Mr. Shepherd, not in his usual dress shirt and tie, but in a pair of gym shorts with a snug-fitting t-shirt. Honorera felt her mouth go dry. The navy-blue t-shirt left nothing to the imagination. The man was all muscle, like a made-for-the-movies superhero. Bulging biceps, defined pecs, an 8-pack... her eyes continued to trail lower.
When she realized where her gaze had gone, she jerked her eyes back up to his face, and found him grinning at her. Flustered she lowered her eyes. What? Why was he smiling? She was just one of a dozen girls checking him out, why wasn’t he grinning at them?
"Ok class, listen up. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mr. Shepherd, substitute extraordinaire. I'm covering Mrs. Dexter’s English classes. Now Mr. Carter blew out his knee, so I'll be covering for him while he recovers from surgery. Take a 5-minute warm-up run, and then we'll talk business. Go!"
Honorera started a slow jog around the gym. The boys ran past the girls, joking and jostling each other, while the girls seemed to jog as slow as possible with the least amount of effort, lest they actually break a sweat. Honorera ignored them all and set her own pace, lapping the girls, but not trying to catch the boys. When the five minutes were up, Mr. Shepherd blew the whistle, and they congregated in the center circle to stretch.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I have a challenge for you." He pulled out two crisp fifty-dollar bills. "I have here one hundred dollars. I will award fifty to the fastest boy, and fifty to the fastest girl in the four-hundred-meter dash. And on Friday... I'll put up another hundred for the mile."
The high school kids hooted and hollered. "Hey, is that allowed?" One of the girls called out.
"Yeah," another boy shouted, "Does Mr. Dulotte know about this?"
"What Mr. Dulotte doesn't know, won't hurt him." Mr. Shepherd said with an easy smile. "Let's head out to the track."
Honorera felt a little rise of excitement and anxiety in her stomach. Fifty dollars probably wasn't much for some of the rich kids, but for her, that was a lot of money. She was already calculating in her head what she could do with that money, the groceries and supplies she could buy. Maybe she could even get a new pair of boots before the winter snow set in. Mr. Shepherd had set it up in three heats for each gender. Honorera knew she was fast. She knew she could win the money.
"Alright, take the line ladies!"
After a moment's hesitation, Honorera peeled off her hoodie and took her position on the track. She felt eyes on her body and shivered self-consciously.
"On my mark! Go!" Honorera didn't even put in a full effort, she easily pulled out in front and stayed there until she passed the cones that marked the finish line. Mr. Shepherd wrote down the top runners for the next heat. The girls caught their breath while the boys took their turn.
Honorera didn't even break a sweat. Most of these girls were nothing more than fashion plates who were afraid to sweat and ruin their make-up. There were a couple of cheerleaders that were at least fit, and one girl who played on the softball team. She easily cleared the next heat, but other students were starting to notice.
"Hey, look at fatty!"
"Trailer trash must really need that money!"
"Have you ever seen her without a hoodie on?"
"Jeezus, she has nice tits."
She gritted her teeth. Who cared what they said? She needed that money, and this was the easiest fifty dollars she had ever earned. She scraped her hair back and tied it in a knot for the last run.
She started to sprint as soon as Mr. Shepherd yelled, “go!” But almost immediately she felt something pull on her shirt. One of the other girls had caught ahold of the hem of her tank top and was holding her back. "Hey, bitch!” The redheaded sneered, “where ya going? You think your gonna show off for Mr. Shepherd?" Honorera strained against the tank top, still trying to run and break free until she felt the seams start to tear out. When the girl holding her felt the other runners had a sufficient lead, she released her, laughing madly. The cheerleader didn't care who won, as long as it wasn't Honorera.
Honorera took a deep breath and put it in full gear, sprinting like a deer, unbelievably light and swift, her legs stretching out in long strides. She caught up to the other girls and passed them just before they reached the finish line.
Mr. Shepherd flashed a smile and tucked his clipboard under his armpit so that he could clap his hands. "Well played, Honorera. Even with cheating classmates, you pulled it off." He held out the fifty-dollar bill between two fingers. Honorera hesitated just a moment before she swiped it out of his hand.
Behind her, some students hooted and laughed, and a few made teasing remarks about the torn tank top, but it really didn't matter. She was wearing a sports bra, and nothing was indecently exposed. She only hoped no one noticed her scars. She ignored the jeers and pulled her hoody back on, retreating into the safety of the hood before she turned her back on the class and went back into the locker room. She felt Mr. Shepherd's eyes on her the whole way, but she didn't look back. If they were running the mile on Friday, she knew she could pocket another fifty dollars. A rare, small smile twitched over her lips. She'd be going shopping this weekend.
**********
Gabriel had set up the races just to see her run. She didn't look like a runner, she was small, curvy, and although her legs were muscular, they were too short for a runner. The kids called her fat, today he had seen that she really wasn’t. It was the loose, baggy clothes that hid her figure and made her look bulky and shapeless. No one would have guessed that when she started to run, she did so with almost supernatural speed and grace. She pushed off with such strength that her stride covered more ground than a long-legged runner. She was like a galloping horse, eating up the distance. What's more, she didn't seem to get tired or winded, even after three consecutive sprints.
"Miss Morgan" He called to the girl who had grabbed Honorera in the last race and almost ripped her tank top right off Honor’s body. The artificial redhead looked wide-eyed and guilty as she shuffled up to him. Gabriel gave her a hard look that only made her squirm more. "What were you thinking?"
"Oh hey, Mr. Shepherd, it was nothing serious. Just a game, right?"
"I take cheating and bullying very seriously Miss Meyers." His expression was so stormy that she began to shift nervously from foot to foot. "What you did was unfair to Miss Talbot, and unfair to the other runners."
"Okay, whatever." She said, glancing over her shoulder, and daring to roll her eyes at her friends.
"’Okay’ doesn't cut it. You have two choices. Either you will write a detailed and sincere apology letter to Miss Talbot, which I will approve before you give it to her."
"Or?"
"Or you will serve detention with me every day for the next week, and help the custodian disinfect the bleachers."
The girl’s mouth sagged open in disbelief. "Man, that's harsh Mr. Shepherd!"
Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest. "What will it be?"
"Fine, I will write the letter,” she conceited in a petulant tone.
"Good. I expect to see it before class on Friday." He watched her return to her friends with a little less attitude than she'd left. What was wrong with these kids anyway? Why the hell were they so mean? With his keen ears, he listened to them gossip as they headed into the locker rooms.
"Did you see her run? She's fast."
"Who cares?"
"She even smoked Miranda. Miranda was on the freakin' track team last year."
"She's such a freak."
"She musta wanted that money real bad. What do you think she'll do with it?"
"Maybe she's taking drugs."
"Can drugs make you run fast?"
"Maybe, speed or something. Or steroids."
"How come she never played any sports?"
"I heard her uncle won’t let won't let her do anything."
Gabriel sighed and went inside. He hoped the money he'd just put in her pocket would help her somehow, until the day he could provide for her directly himself. He was getting impatient; he wanted that day to be here and now. But he was still trying to figure out the mystery surrounding Honorera Talbot. There was just something he couldn't quite put his finger on.