Gary Wilcox looked up as Principal Harmon entered the classroom and introduced Mrs. Wells to the senior class. This was Mrs. Wells’ first year teaching at Mt. Carney High, home of the Fighting Wild Cats. Gary thought she looked to be in her late thirties, and by the look she gave everyone, she certainly wasn’t a first-year teacher they could take advantage of.

She proved she was not to be messed with when Tony Grimes tested her by turning around and talking to Cheryl Bennett while she was calling the roll. Mrs. Wells walked up behind Tony while still calling names. When she got to his desk, she slammed her clipboard on Tony’s desktop. Gary saw it coming, and even he flinched from the loud BLAM of wood meeting wood. Tony jumped so high and looked so startled that the whole class started laughing. When everyone settled down, Mrs. Wells told Tony, “You do know, Mr. Grimes, you have gotten my attention.”

“Oops. The one thing you didn’t want from a teacher was their paying attention to your every move. Thankfully, the first-period bell rang, and those who didn’t have a class with Mrs. Wells scattered. By the end of the week, everyone who had a class with Mrs. Wells knew you didn’t mess with Mrs. Wells.

It was another warm Saturday afternoon. Gary was sitting on the front porch with his feet up on the railing, talking on his phone to Betty Mae Rogers, when a moving van parking across the street caught Gary’s attention. Two men got out of the cab and opened up the back. They unloaded boxes and furniture onto the sidewalk as a blue Toyota Camry parked behind them. Who gets out of the car but Mrs. Wells?

“Holy shit, Betty Mae, guess who is moving in across the street from me ... Mrs. Wells, my homeroom teacher ... No shit, Betty, I’m watching her talk to the movers right now.” Gary ducked back into the house and stood at the window, watching as he poured out his woes to Betty Mae.

Betty Mae listened, but Gary didn’t hear a lot of sympathy coming from her. Who wants their hard-ass teacher watching their every move? Gary’s paranoia about his new neighbor convinced him Mrs. Wells would probably call his mother whenever he spits or invites a friend over.

Gary started wearing his baseball cap and sunglasses whenever he went outside. Of course, his attempt to remain incognito was blown three days later. He forgot his cap and sunglasses when his mother sent him to get the groceries from the trunk of her car. Wouldn’t you know it, Mrs. Wells picked that very moment to step out of her front door. Gary spotted her looking right at him. Gary swore he saw her smirk as she nodded in his direction as if saying “You have my attention, Mr. Wilcox.”

A couple of days later, Betty Mae came over and sat on the porch with Gary. “Whoa, Gary, it must really suck having your homeroom teacher living across the street from you.” Betty Mae was grinning when she said it. Gary knew she wasn’t feeling one bit sorry for him. She had already told him to get over it and that he was making a big deal out of nothing.

Mrs. Wells had just come out of her house and was in her front yard tending to the flower bed that the previous owner had neglected. She wore a wide-brimmed straw hat with a green ribbon that hung down the back, a pair of blue shorts and a floral blouse.

Betty Mae made a remark that Gary didn’t think was at all necessary: “Nice legs and ass on her bro.” Although, it shouldn’t have been an unexpected remark from Betty Mae.

When Mrs. Wells stood up and stretched her back, she acknowledged her young neighbors with a smile and a wave and returned to work on the flower beds.

“Nice bust, too. Maybe your mom and I should invite her over for coffee.” Betty Mae was having a ball teasing her friend, “She seems like she is trying to be nice.”

Gary was not convinced, “Yeah. It’s more like nosy. I bet she already thinks you’re my girlfriend.”

“Do you want me to go over and tell her I’m gay?”

“Would you?” Gary asked in all seriousness.

“Fuck no.? Betty Mae chuckled, “Gary ... you’re such a loser sometimes. Besides, who gives a shit what she thinks?”

Gary’s mother drove up and parked in the driveway. She got out of the car, carrying a bag from Macy’s and walked up the steps onto the porch. “Hi, Betty Mae. Is he obsessing over the teacher next door?”

“He sure is, Helen. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“Well, let’s leave him to it. I’m sure he will get over it eventually.”

Betty Mae got up and followed Gary’s mother into the house. They held hands as they went up to Helen’s bedroom. Betty Mae shut the door behind them.

Helen took the powder-blue panties and bra she bought out of the bag. She held them up, “What do you think, Betty Mae?”

“Cute, but they would look even better on you.” Betty Mae was taking her T-shirt off as Helen reached under her skirt and pulled her panties down and off. She put on the new powder blue ones without bothering to remove the store tags. Helen unzipped her skirt and let it drop to the floor. Betty Mae was down to just her panties and bra as she admired her lover’s new French-cut panties. Helen unbuttoned her blouse and tossed it onto the bed. She reached behind her back, undid her bra and took it off. She didn’t bother to put on her new bra.

They each took a step forward to hold each other in their arms as they kissed. Helen’s C-cup breasts pressed firmly against Betty Mae’s B-cup bra-covered chest. Their kisses were long and passionate. Helen had been Betty Mae’s confidant, role model, and major supporter ever since Betty Mae came out to her on that afternoon, Helen remembered so well.

Although Betty Mae was almost a year older than Gary, they were in the same grade, and playmates ever since the third grade. When Gary was sixteen, Gary wanted to play more than hearts. He kissed her and told her he wanted her to be his girlfriend. Betty Mae pushed him away and started to cry. She knew Gary liked her a lot. Well, she liked him too, but not in that way. Helen heard her crying and went in and saw the shocked look on her sixteen-year-old son’s face.

Helen asked what was wrong. Still not understanding why Betty Mae was crying, Gary admitted he tried to kiss her. Helen could see how upset Betty Mae was. She took Betty Mae in her arms and tried to calm her. Through her sniffles and tears, Betty Mae told Helen, “I’m so sorry for the way I’m acting. I don’t want to lose my best friend because I’m different than other girls.”

Helen knew immediately what Betty Mae meant by different. She had struggled with that same issue for years before she admitted to herself and then to her husband that she was gay and had started having an affair with a woman. Tom and Helen had only been married for a little over a year when she confessed that she was gay. Tom took the news better than she had expected. They were renting and didn’t have any assets to speak of. The divorce went through quickly. When everything was settled, Tom left without thinking he needed to leave a forwarding address. Unknown at the time, Helen was four weeks pregnant. By the time Helen realized she was pregnant, she had lost track of Tom. After destroying their marriage, she didn’t feel she should place this additional burden on him. Five years ago, Helen found Tom on Facebook. Tom had remarried and had two daughters. She sent a friend request, and Tom responded. Tom was delighted to find out he had a son. Gary visits his father and his half-sisters in Florida twice a year.

Although Helen was much older than Betty Mae, the relationship steadily developed over the next few months. When Betty Mae turned eighteen, they became lovers. Of course, Gary knew all about his forty-year-old mother’s affair with the now nineteen-year-old Betty Mae. It took him a while to come to terms with the fact that his mother seduced the girl he thought he was in love with. His mother is happy, Betty Mae is happy, Gary is happy for them, and he still has his best friend.

The sun had just come up when Gary went out to start his morning run. Gary was stretching his legs when he heard, “Do you mind if I join you, Mr. Wilcox?”

Gary couldn’t believe it. It was Mrs. Wells in jogging gear and well-broken-in running shoes. What could he say except, “Of course, Mrs. Wells.” Gary put in his earbuds and queued up his music. Mrs. Wells smiled and did the same. They jogged in the road for two blocks before turning into the park.

“Take the lead, Mr. Wilcox. I’m not familiar with all these trails yet.” She fell in behind Gary on the narrow trail. When the trail opened up, she pulled alongside him.

Gary picked up the pace every once in a while. She kept up and would even smile as if she knew what he was doing, but was not going to back down.

Once back in front of Mrs. Wells’ house, she was smiling with a light glistening of sweat on her face, “I enjoyed that, Mr. Wilcox. You set a brisk pace that gave me an excellent workout. I’ll see you in class.” Mrs. Wells turned and walked up her front steps and went inside. With that dismissal, Gary hurried across the street to get ready for school.

Much to Gary’s relief, Mrs. Wells didn’t in any way show that they had more than a passing teacher/student acquaintance.

By the end of the week, it had become routine for Mrs. Wells to join Gary for his morning run. Gary had even started looking forward to their run and was surprised when, after the second week, she began calling him Gary, although he still addressed her as Mrs. Wells. In school, Mrs. Wells always addressed him as Mr. Wilcox if she needed to speak to him.

They had just finished their run and were cooling down and sipping water when Mrs. Wells offered Gary a job: “Gary, I really would like to get the backyard in shape before Veterans Day. I would be willing to pay you to help me.”

The thought of some extra cash appealed to Gary. “Yeah, I could come over after dinner if my homework is finished.”

“That would help tremendously. Say around 6:00? That would give us a couple of hours before it starts to get dark.”

That evening, Gary went over to Mrs. Wells and knocked on the door. She was dressed in jeans, work boots and a pullover jersey that hugged the shape of her breasts. They took down the rusty swing set Mrs. Wells obviously didn’t need. Then they started raking and bagging what looked like three seasons of dead leaves. They would not finish that job before dark.

It took Gary and Mrs. Wells the rest of the week to get the backyard and flower beds weeded, cleaned out and mulched. They stood looking at what they had accomplished when Mrs. Well said, “I need to get some grass seed. I would like to do some more work on the flowerbeds and plant some shrubs near the house. What do you think?”