Gabby Is Missing: Part Twenty-One

~ beetleypete

This is the twenty-first part of a fiction serial, in 862 words.

After lunch, Steve had some questions for Gabby before they went back to her story.

“So how is it that those teachers didn’t find out about you having a relationship with the others at the same school? I mean, staff-room gossip and all that. And how did you manage to get money if your mum was on benefits and you had stopped taking money off the drunks for sex?”

Gabby lit a cigarette, and smiled.

“Over the years until I left school, there were four women teachers, and two men. How they didn’t find out about the others, I don’t know. You would have to ask them. Most of the time it was a quick session in a parked car, or locked in a stockroom when everyone had gone home and before the cleaners turned up. They all gave me presents too, or money to buy myself something. So added to what I could pinch out of my mum’s purse, I had enough to get by, to get new uniform, underwear, tights, shoes, and make-up. I didn’t have many other casual clothes, and that wasn’t a problem as I usually only hung out with other girls straight from school”.

That seemed to satisfy Steve, and he jotted down a few notes before asking her something else.

“And how did you manage to do so well at the lessons? Were they fiddling your paperwork and homework, or what?”

She leaned forward, flicking the ash from the cigarette into her empty teacup.

“You keep forgetting I am actually clever. I didn’t need too much help, just couldn’t be arsed with too much study. So they told me what tests were going to be about in advance, gave me tips on what to write, what to feature as bullet points, and how long it should be to look convincing. They told me to make some mistakes deliberately, so it didn’t look too fishy. But once the O-levels were coming up, I had dropped some subjects like all the science stuff, and concentrated on English, History, and Geography. I had to do maths too, that was compulsory. I was shit at Maths, but fortunately Miss Devine was the teacher, and I knew she was crazy about me. She was so easy to pull, it was laughable”.

Steve’s interest was piqued.

“Miss Devine, eh. Tell me more about her. Was she a lesbian? How old was she?”

Stubbing out the cigarette in the cup, Gabby grinned.

“I could almost feel sorry for her, but only almost. She was from Northern Ireland originally, you know, with that accent you see on the news when there’s trouble there. I reckon she must have been close to fifty, as she looked really old-fashioned. One day I waited behind after the lesson, looked really upset, and told her I was going to completely fail Maths if she didn’t help me. It was like she had been waiting for the moment, I swear I saw her lick her lips before she answered. She said she could give me extra lessons at her house at weekends. But only if I didn’t tell anyone about it. She lived in the suburbs of course, not in the crap area where I went to school. She gave me directions from the closest bus stop to her house, and even slipped me five quid for the return fare. I didn’t tell her I had a free bus pass”.

With his pen moving fast on the notebook, Steve just nodded. “And you went of course?”

“Course I went. Saturday morning I arrived just after nine, to find she had breakfast ready to serve up. She went through the motions after, sitting on her sofa with lots of maths books open on her coffee table, telling me how to solve problems I had no chance of remembering. I pretended to be listening, then hit her with some more fake depression. Her arm went round me to comfort me, and five minutes later we were at it on the sofa, followed by a full-on session in her bedroom.
Then Sunday we didn’t even bother to pretend, and stayed in bed most of the day. She said the next weekend I could come on Friday evening, stay until Monday morning, and she would drop me off in a side street behind the school. She was completely in love with me, and totally hooked. Then it was every weekend for months after that”.

He had stopped writing, and as he looked at Gabby, his expression was sheer admiration.

“Angela Devine used to call me her precious girl. I let her believe I would move in with her once I had finished at uni, and she did anything for me. Bought me stuff, gave me spending money. She steered me in the right direction for the exam questions, and showed me tricks to remember how to solve the problems. I got a decent pass mark in the exam, then dropped the subject for A-level and dumped her. She couldn’t say anything about that of course, could she?”

Checking his watch, Steve closed his notebook and switched off the recorder. “Time for dinner, I reckon”.

34 thoughts on “Gabby Is Missing: Part Twenty-One”

    1. Well she named some teachers, and there is her brother and mum. They could all deny everything of course. Mud sticks.
      Steve is getting 25%, at least it says that on his contract. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete. x

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. Comment from LividErmerald, which WP will not accept for some reason.
    (1) Revenge is a dish best served cold. But first, a hot lunch, a cigarette, and more smokin’ hot story time!
    (2) Sneaky sex on the USS Enterprise: “Most of the time it was a quick session in a shuttlecraft or Jefferies tube, or else locked in the armory or transporter room after the ship’s away team had retrieved their phasers and descended to the planet’s surface.”
    (3) Gabby pinched so much money out of her mum’s purse that she ended up with raw fingertips.
    (4a) Is there a word for loose tights?
    (4b) You know what they say: “Loose lips sink ships. Loose tights spoil nights!”
    (5) Did you hear the one about the music student who fiddled with his homework?
    (6a) There’s something fishy about how fish sticks look.
    (6b) The fish in Minnesota argue a lot, but at least they agree that hooks are de-bait-able.
    (7) “I had a devil of a good time with Angela Devine.” (Gabby Parker)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. (1) Revenge is a dish best served cold. But first, a hot lunch, a cigarette, and more smokin’ hot story time!
    (2) Sneaky sex on the USS Enterprise: “Most of the time it was a quick session in a shuttlecraft or Jefferies tube, or else locked in the armory or transporter room after the ship’s away team had retrieved their phasers and descended to the planet’s surface.”
    (3) Gabby pinched so much money out of her mum’s purse that she ended up with raw fingertips.
    (4a) Is there a word for loose tights?
    (4b) You know what they say: “Loose lips sink ships. Loose tights spoil nights!”
    (5) Did you hear the one about the music student who fiddled with his homework?
    (6a) There’s something fishy about how fish sticks look.
    (6b) The fish in Minnesota argue a lot, but at least they agree that hooks are de-bait-able.
    (7) “I had a devil of a good time with Angela Devine.” (Gabby Parker)

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