Falling From Grace by S. L. Naeole Read Free Book Online Page B

off to Mrs. Hoppbaker’s class, saying a quick “ Adieu ” to Madame Hidani while pondering what exactly had transpired while I was lost in my thoughts.   I knew that I didn’t write that paper.   At least…I think I didn’t.   It was my handwriting; I couldn’t doubt that.   The Ls were tilted to the right, and the Xs were crooked, just like they always were.   I remembered seeing that.   But why didn’t I remember writing those Ls and Xs?

    ***

    Mrs. Hoppbaker’s class was half full by the time I got there.   Of course, it being an elective math class, it was filled with those who should be more comfortable with someone like me, but my friendship with Graham had alienated that crowd just as surely as it had alienated the popular kids — I was no man’s land when it came to friendship.  
    Sighing, I took yet another backroom seat and started copying the year’s syllabus down on a sheet of paper pulled from my binder.   I took no notice of the absence of a very large presence until the bell rang.
    “Good morning, class.   My name is Mrs. Hoppbaker, and I am so skinny, you could blindfold me with dental floss,” said a very familiar voice from a very unfamiliar body.
    “Mrs. Hoppbaker?” a boy I remembered as Ian asked incredulously, his mouth hanging open with the same shock that the rest of the class was buzzing with.
    The thin woman with the beautiful chestnut hair and glowing skin the color of a summer peach smiled at him.   “Yes sir, Mr. Thompson.   It’s me, Mrs. Hoppbaker.   Over one-hundred pounds lighter, healthier, and just as funny as ever if I do say so myself , although modesty isn’t one of my virtues, so I hope none of you were expecting that.”
    My jaw was touching my desk.   I could feel it.   She was beautiful!   Not that she hadn’t been so before she lost the weight, but the amount of confidence she exuded, coupled with the loss of a whole person in body fat looked incredible on her!
    She spent the first fifteen minutes of class time answering questions about her weight loss, which came thanks to the gastric bypass surgery she had done the day school was let out three months ago.   How in the world does someone lose over a hundred pounds in three months someone asked.   Exercise, eating right, and lots and lots of extracurricular activities came her reply — I didn’t want to guess as to what those activities could mean.  
    It was no secret that Mrs. Hoppbaker and Mr. Hoppbaker were in love.   They were the only people to ever have been kicked out of the Indian Mound Mall movie theater for making out.   Of course, Mrs. Hoppbaker and Mr. Hoppbaker had both weighed the equivalent of six people at the time, and a great to-do was made of it, but in the end they both said that they should have kept it a little more PG and a lot less NC-17.
    I was so amazed at the transformation in her that I failed to notice that while everyone else’s eyes were on her, one pair was on me.   It wasn’t until I heard my pencil drop onto the floor and bent down too retrieve it that I turned to see them:   A pair of gray eyes, focused so intently on my every move, I almost stopped breathing.
    “I might sound like a broken record here, but so we meet again,” a soft, soothing voice spoke.
    My attempt to sit up was so abrupt, my head connected with the corner of my desk with painful accuracy.   The sound seemed to reverberate around the now silent classroom.   When did the questions for Mrs. Hoppbaker stop?   Why did they have to stop now — right when I happen make a fool of myself all over again?   “Idiot,” I mumbled to myself as I grabbed my head with my left hand.
    The giggling and laughter that erupted surrounded me, and the suffocating feeling of embarrassment began to overwhelm.   A warm hand reached over to cover my free one just then and time seemed to stop.   Everything was blurred by a misty haze while electricity seemed to shoot between the microscopic space