Chapter 2
He got up, picked his books up and as he walked toward the door, I softly said, "Thank you, Zachary. No one has ever told me that before."
"Then everybody around here must be blind." Was all he said as he walked to the door and went out.
I had expected him to just walk out and come right back in. But he didn't. The classroom slowly filled, but no Zachary. Some of the other students commented on his absence. I was beginning to think that maybe he was too embarrassed to come back. Had I teased him too much?
Just before the bell rang, Zachary walked into the room ever so slowly. One of the young men said, "Hey Zack, where you been?"
It was like he didn't hear that. He was looking at me. In keeping with our charade, I said, "I'm Sister Carol, I will be your homeroom teacher this year. And you are?"
He started to stutter again and said, "I'm Zack, no no, I'm Zachary...Zachary...ah Zachary Miller."
"Well Zachary Zachary Zachary Miller, I think that I will just call you Zachary, if you don't mind, it's a bit easier that way," I said with a laugh.
The class picked up on that and started laughing and one group, who I later learned were on the swimming team, started to chant, "Zachary Zachary Zachary... Zachary Zachary Zachary."
I put my foot down and stopped that right away. But, as he walked down the aisle, I couldn't help saying, "Be careful, Zachary. Don't trip over the desk." He turned a bit red and took his seat.
I spent the homeroom time telling the class that I had just graduated from MIT and that I had just taken my final vows and that they were my very first class. That they were my first class made more of an impression than anything else. One of the girls yelled out, "Hey that makes us your Firsts."
The rest of the class picked up on that and from that moment they called themselves "The Firsts."
The homeroom class was also my religion class, however, Zachary was also in my Advanced Placement Calculus and Trigonometry classes. He was a good student, and a great one in Calculus and Trig. He seemed to understand everything I said.
He could be a bit of a tease, and would clown around at times, but never in an annoying or a hurtful way. He was a good-natured young man.
I soon became conscious of the fact that he had a crush on me. At times I would catch him staring at me. When I did he would quickly look away. I found that it wasn't unpleasant to have this handsome young man admire me.
I did realize that he wasn't much younger than me. He was around eighteen years old and I had just turned twenty-one. But it wasn't the age difference that made the separation, it was the difference in authority. I was the teacher and a nun and he was the student.
The year flew by. I was thrilled when Zachary received a scholarship to Stanford University in California. He credited me with getting it for him. I had written a letter of recommendation. I didn't think that a letter from a teacher who only had a semester of experience with a student had much weight, but he thought it did.
Zachary finished the year as the salutatorian and he received the Calculus medal, I had no input in that, but I wasn't surprised as he had a perfect mark. He lost out to Mary Beth, the Valedictorian by only a half a point. He wasn't bothered by that at all. His only comment was, "Hey, I like Mary Beth, she's smart and a real nice girl."
On the last day of classes, my homeroom met in our classroom after school. They presented me with a crystal sculpture that was engraved with "To the worlds GREATEST teacher. Thank you for being our teacher, mentor and especially our friend. Love your very first class...The Firsts. It was dated the last day of class.
I couldn't thank them enough. As they slowly left I shook their hands and gave hugs to the girls. The last one to leave was Zachary. He took my hand in his and smiled at me. "Sister, I wanted to thank you for all that you did for me. And I don't just mean the letter."
I leaned over and gave him a small hug. "Thank you, Zachary."
He looked at me with a question on his eyes. "For being you," I laughed "And for falling over desks."
He reddened a little and squeezed my hand. As he walked out of the classroom he turned his head and said in a soft voice, "I haven't changed my mind about what I told you that first day."
Then, he was gone out into the hall, I was a bit surprised that he said that. I smiled and as I turned and I walked back to my desk, I saw one of those yellow sticky notes on the crystal. I looked closely. The note was placed just above the engraving. There was an arrow pointing between the words "GREATEST" and "teacher" in a very precise printing it said, "And most beautiful."
My eyes filled with tears. I quickly wiped them, took my sculpture, with the note still attached and went to my car and back to the convent.