⚘ — BRIGHT , SYNTHESIZED POP MELODIES floated from the small , trusty bluetooth speaker precariously velcro – mounted to the wall just above the filing cabinet in the corner behind his desk , filling the air of the modestly – sized english classroom from wall to wall with the familiar , staccato rhythm of a soft cell radio single at least a decade his senior . while he may have technically been a child of the nineties , there remained one fact of which jaime sullivan was wholly and undoubtedly certain – the eighties were the golden age of billboard pop , easily the genre’s most pinnacle era . ( excluding the early two – thousands , of course , but to attempt to compare the two , to try and rank one above the other ? it was nigh impossible in his opinion , akin to the painfully cliche debate of apples and oranges . why even bother ? ) cropped curls the color of sunlit tupelo honey nodded along absently to the tune , thoughtless and only slightly off – tempo , as jaime continued to hum the lyrics around the pen cap balanced between his teeth ; it was a pleasant soundtrack to loop behind a whirlwind of thoughts and ideas , he had to admit , even if it did prove on occasion vaguely distracting . his mind had always been rather prone to spontaneous wandering anyhow . ❝ … baby , baby , where did our love go ? ooh , don’tcha leave me … ❞
a clumsily murmured chorus slowly faded into silent thought as sulley leaned back into the stiff cushion of his rolling chair , swiping the top sheet from a substantial stack of yet – ungraded essays on his desk and squinting in an attempt to decipher four cramped paragraphs’ worth of oversized , looping cursive letters in a truly retina – searing shade of fluorescent pink . for a fleeting moment , he couldn’t help but wonder if it was even worth trying to read the essay for the inevitable headache it would cause, but he dismissed the notion almost as quickly as it’d appeared . one of his bright – eyed , bushy – tailed freshman had worked hard on this , regardless of her questionable choice of ink . at least she completed the assignment , he reminded himself earnestly , and turned it in on time . her effort deserved his sincere and undivided attention and her words , however magenta and tangled and glittery they might be , still deserved his consideration . for all he knew , this essay could be profound , r e v e l a t o r y . perhaps the greatest truths of orwell’s 1984 could only be found when sought through the sparkle a flamingo – colored lens . who was he to know ? he’d never even thought to try .
nearly thirty minutes later and the english teacher had already long abandoned the comfort of his chair , rolling it toward the chalkboard as he rose to his feet with a haphazard push and barely so much as a glance to send it off . instead , he found himself standing over his desk , palms pressed flush against the decades’ – old wood on either side of a pair of ruled sheets of loose – leaf . on the left , the original essay in all of its blinding neon glory ; on the right , sulley’s best attempt at a legible deciphering , a copy made in the hopes he might actually be able to read it for the content . gazing down at it once he’d finally finished , he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry , having just spent half an hour decoding each individual word of an essay only to realize that , rather than addressing the dystopian symbolism in 1984 , it was instead a four – paragraph stream of unedited internal monologue regarding the ❛ more relatable ❜ symbolism in taylor swift’s 2014 hit album , 1989 . perhaps the worst part ? he likely would have found the whole thing hilarious had he not been so frustrated by it first .
❝ far be it for me to claim anythin’ other than love and compassion for my job and each an’ every single one of my students , ❞ jaime proclaimed aloud in no particular direction as he wandered into a classroom only a few doors down and across the hall from his own , dropping into the first empty desk he approached with an exaggerated breath of a sigh that had tired irises rolling up toward the ceiling for a long moment before finally finding focus on meredith . ❝ ‘cause god help me , i really do love ‘em all — but if i have to sit through gradin’ even just one more essay right now , either my brain’s gonna start to implode an’ collapse like a black hole , or you might have to bear witness to a grown man cryin’ at this desk like a scolded child . and don’t ask me which — i’m not entirely sure yet , more than likely a little a’ both . ❞ the exasperation that bled into his words manifested in the form of a heightened low – country drawl , elongating vowels and dropping consonants he typically tried to keep tight . ❝ please tell me you’re almost done with your lesson plannin’ over there , ❞ he added with a nod toward her own desk , ❝ because i don’t care if it’s chai tea or chardonnay , i am in desperate need of a drink anywhere but here — preferably without all the fluorescent light . i’m still seein’ pink . ❞ ( @ofeastbrooks )
