Short stories series #6

From Obsession to Disillusionment

When the English Language teacher first entered this particular class she did not take notice of this particular student. For the first few weeks, the student had been absent due to a serious operation she had to undergo in Australia. After her return, Miss Phipps still wasn’t aware of her presence. It was much later, when the seemingly unassuming girl had been asked to read some pages of a novel the class was doing that she realized she had a “star” pupil on her hands. The 14 year-old girl could read very well, enunciating the words with such clarity and style, Miss Phipps was suitably impressed. From that moment on, she became completely aware of the student.

Every lesson it would appear like Miss Phipps was teaching only one student. Her attention was almost focused on that one girl, so much so the other girls started to feel themselves being marginalised. To make matters worse, the rest of the girls were already envious of this girl, of her excellent command of the English Language, of her good looks and of her financially well-off background. Like all girls, they began to gossip about her behind her back and their antagonism came to a head when a group of them complained to the principal about their imagined marginalization by their English Language teacher because they were weak students.
Miss Phipps, naturally, received a lot of flak from the principal for the so-called marginalization of the weaker students. After the unpleasantness of it all Miss Phipps became very careful with the class, pretending to ignore her ‘star” pupil. Meanwhile, she tried to give “equal’ attention to the 40-odd girls in the class.
The following year, she did not teach the girl but she had become “obsessed” with the girl in a strange sort of way. It was a kind of “Dionysian syndrome” she was afflicted with in that she was “smitten” with the girl’s good looks, especially her sweet smile. If Miss Phipps had been a man it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to say that he had become afflicted with the “Lolita syndrome” but this is not the case. The lady teacher never had lesbianistic tendencies so the attraction was purely platonic.

She would secretly admire this student from afar because now she did not enter the student’s class any longer. She would find opportunities to get close to the student or to speak to her. Girls, being descended from Eve, are natural temptresses. The student would always flash Miss Phipps the sweetest smile upon meeting her and would speak to her in the tenderest style possible. If Miss Phipps had been a man, he might have fallen head over heels in love with her. Miss Phipps couldn’t understand how she could become obsessed with the girl. If she was absent from school, Miss Phipps’s day would be an unhappy one. A smile from her, a greeting, or any kind of response would make the teacher’s day. Miss Phipps felt not unlike the protagonist in Thomas Mann’s novel, Death in Venice, who died admiring the perfect beauty of a boy-child.
This went on for more than a year until the true nature of the girl started showing up. She would make use of Miss Phipps for her convenience but she would be very inconsiderate in her attitude towards the teacher. Soon, Miss Phipps grew weary of her and her lack of consideration. Finally, after months of “abusive” treatment, the poor teacher decided that the girl had taken her friendship and care for nothing. That was when disillusionment set in and Miss Phipps began to distance herself from the girl.

Note : This story would be expanded in due time. It could even be expanded into a novel. No dialogue is written for the moment as this is only the skeleton of a larger story.