Laura’s POV 107
“You might as well be blunt if you have something to say! Cameron and I are old friends.”
George looked at me with a kindly gaze that, for a moment, actually reminded me of Patrick far away in Hallstatt …
“Laura! Are you okay?” He called out to me several times, and I looked back, a little embarrassed.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
“So … can we go to your office and talk? I’ll just take up a little of your time.”
“Anything important?” He looked at his watch and the staff behind him came up and whispered a reminder of his schedule for a while.
“If you’re busy then forget it.” I lowered my head, “I’ll come back another time.”
“Wait!” He stopped me, “Since you’ve come all the way here, go to my office for a cup of tea.” Then he turned his head and said to the staff, “Change the time, I’ll be twenty minutes late.”
I followed him upstairs. His office was very grand, and the corridor was plastered with pictures of popular stars, as well as many posters of sold-out movies and TV shows. Along the way, I bumped into a lot of familiar faces that I usually only see on TV, but here they were nodding their heads and asking, “Hello boss!”
It was all very new to me.
George turned to me and smiled, “Actually, celebrities are ordinary people, not unattainable. They’re just like white-collar workers in a company, of course they should greet their bosses when they see them!”
“You’re awesome.” I exclaimed from the bottom of my heart, “Commanding a thousand armies, accounting for half of the entertainment industry!”
“Of course!” He was proud of himself, “In fact, some stars, their singing and acting skills are just so-so, what do they rely on? What do they rely on? I’m the boss behind the scenes, and I’m the one who’s doing all the work for them.”
“Yes, yes!” I laughed.
“In fact, your family Cameron can totally come up to me to invest in a movie, and I’ll leave you the female lead role, how about it?”
“Forget it …,” I said, “I don’t want anything more to do with him.”
“But your relationship with him, this life is difficult to be separated, is not it?”
He said this, I heart thumped. Probably his face turned a little ugly, George hastily apologized to me, “Sorry, sorry, I’m starting to talk out of turn again, don’t take it personally!”
“It’s nothing.” I shook my head and smiled at him, “Actually, I came to see you today because of Cameron.”
“What the hell happened?” He had his assistant bring two cups of grapefruit tea.
I filled him in on the events leading up to it, and told him that it was Gina who suggested I come here to think of something.
George paused and laughed softly, “It’s not that I won’t help you … It’s just that there really aren’t any plays that need to go to the kindergarten to find actors these days!”
“Oh.” I nodded, my heart sinking a bit.
“Laura…” he said, “Can’t you just negotiate with Cameron?”
I shook my head, “I can’t accept what he says, and he can’t accept what I offer.”
“The situation can only get worse when neither of you will budge!”
“It’s already come to this, there’s no way back for me.” I looked at him, “I can only hold on.”
“What are you living on now?”
I realized by his question that there was very little money left on the card.
“If you’re determined to leave him, then you have to have a job that can support you, right?”
“Uh-huh.” This I agree. “But … how can a job be that easy to find? I’ve been away from Jerez State for most of a year, and change has been rapid in that time, so I’m afraid I’m going to be left out of the market.”
“Why yes!” He laughed, again like a naughty big boy, “You could come to my place and shoot a movie! To be honest, I’ve always had a ‘thief’s heart’ for you, I think you’ll definitely be a hit!”
“You …”
I was made to laugh and cry by him.
“President George,” I smiled, “I appreciate your kind words, but I really … can’t!”
“Like Cameron said, he doesn’t like you throwing your weight around, so you don’t throw your weight around?”
“No!” I was helpless, “I can’t act at all.”
“How many stars can act these days?”
“George!”
“Okay, okay, no kidding!” George got serious this time, “The fact that you don’t want to be in this business is just what you think now, you might change your mind later. But I just said you need to find a job that can support yourself, this is serious!”
“Or you might as well come and do it with me.” He handed me an entry-level application form.
“The Curry Group School of Media, Film and Art?”
“Yes,” he laughed, “the one owned by my company. I know you used to be a teacher at Hallstatt, so why don’t you come to the school and become a teacher too! Actually, teaching middle school students is much the same as teaching little kids.”
“What can I teach?”
“Didn’t you once have your own media company?” He looked at me, “Just share your experience in the media business and your former stories with your students!”
I still kept beating a small drum in my mind.
“Don’t worry!” George patted me on the shoulder and encouraged, “You’re at least a college graduate, you shouldn’t have any trouble teaching a group of middle school students, right? And the students in the art school have professional teachers to train them in their specialized classes, you teach cultural classes, such as English, composition and whatnot, you can always teach this, right?”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded, “I’ll have to go back and flip through the books for those too, I haven’t touched them in so many years, I gave them all back to the teachers a long time ago.”
“Hey Laura!” he frowned with a twisted smile, “Never expose shortcomings in front of your boss!”
“Yes!” I smiled back, “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle the position. But don’t worry, since you gave me the student, I’ll try my best to do it!”
“Don’t worry too,” he looked at me and winked, “Since you’re a school teacher now, any future opportunities to go to the kindergarten and pick out little actors will definitely be yours!”
“Really?” I was surprised and delighted.
“Of course.”
I was stunned for a long moment, “Thank you, George,” I said, “I know that you’re only willing to help me because of Cameron, and you could have turned around and told Cameron all about my whereabouts . … but thank you! You did me a huge favor!”
“Laura!” he held his right hand to his forehead with a hopeless look on his face, “I’m your boss, not Cameron’s informant!”
I spat out my tongue in embarrassment and realized that I had just slipped up.
“My willingness to help you has nothing to do with Cameron.” He said, “I’m doing it entirely for me!”
“Huh?”
“Selling you a favor!” He grinned wickedly, “When you want to be a star in the future, make sure you remember to come see me!”
“You …”
I couldn’t do anything with him.
Later I realized that George is really a person who won’t stop until the yellow river.
And later I didn’t realize that there was an unresolved relationship with The Curry Group Media.
After a few days of preparation, I went to art school to become a teacher.
Those things I learned in the university were basically returned, and these few days of cramming, I don’t know how effective it is. The first time I walked on the podium, my heart was so nervous that even my calves were trembling.
I couldn’t help but laugh at myself, “Laura, is that all you’ve got?
But the first day of teaching went well.
George was right, they were all art school students, so naturally they had professional teachers to teach them the specialized classes, while I was responsible for the cultural classes, so I didn’t have to go into too much depth, and they only wanted to learn a general idea.
Gradually I adapted to the work, but also adapted to the role of teacher. The days went back to normal, and I started to live a life of two hours a day, and George said he would keep an eye out for opportunities to cast in kindergartens, so I felt like I had something to look forward to.
Cameron didn’t visit me often. Occasionally, he comes back as a guest, sits for a while, has a cup of tea, exchanges pleasantries, and then gets up and leaves when he really has nothing more to say. Sometimes he stays for dinner, and we remain silent at the table, like two awkward strangers.
He never stays here overnight.
I think the crux of our relationship still lies in that relationship, in Sunny’s custody.
I plan to work for a while, save up some money, and then ask him for Sunny back in name only.
Maybe by that time he would be in a calmer state of mind, and everything would be negotiable, and he might slowly come to his senses, and the Gordian knot between us would slowly open up.
It was my third month as a teacher.
In Jerez State, winter came late. The sky was cloudy and drizzly that day, the last rain of the fall.
I hurried to my classroom and found some students in their study halls, while others took advantage of the situation to run to the dance studio to practice their basic skills. The only exception was a girl who had just transferred to the class a month earlier. At this moment, she was sitting by the window, wearing a simple white sweater and jeans, tall and fair-skinned, with a head of chestnut-colored wavy hair down to her waist.
She quietly looked out the window, calmly she has a kind of sad temperament, beautiful big eyes, reflecting the dark clouds in the sky.
I don’t know what’s bothering her, but at her age she’s in her flower season, so what’s there to be bothered about?
I was just about to walk over when another girl quietly stopped me. “Ms. Laura, don’t go!”
“What?” I froze.
“Willow she doesn’t usually fit in well!”
Willow … Oh yeah, I just remembered that this girl’s name is Willow, she didn’t come to class for a few days this month, and it’s rumored that her family is quite powerful, and her father and George still have quite a lot of dealings.
“Don’t you guys usually hang out together?”
The girl bristled, “A school girl of her caliber, how could she look at us!” There was quite a bit of complaining in her tone, but her eyes were full of jealousy.
“That’s right,” came another girl, “She’s sitting there, maybe she’s just trying to attract the boys’ attention with her posture! Teacher, don’t go over there and interrupt her self-directed drama!”
I heard full of jealousy.
I smiled and pacified the two students to go study. Looking at that Willow again, she does have the capital to make people jealous.
Perhaps the trajectory of such a girl is not a smooth one, she grew up amidst the admiration and envy of people, but the heights are too high for her, and it’s only natural that she loses the happiness and friends that she should have at this age.
I walked over to her and gently tapped her on the shoulder, she flinched and looked up at me with snowy eyes.
“You’re probably not familiar with me.” I smiled, “I’m your culture teacher. You usually take more specialized classes, so we have less contact …”
“I know you, you’re Laura, Ms. Laura.”
She chimes in with a faint smile.
Her voice was nice and thin and sweet, but her attitude was rejecting, cold and polite.
“It’s raining hard out there and the air is cool.” I closed the window, “You’re wearing thin clothes, don’t freeze and catch cold.”
“Why are you sitting here alone?” I asked, “Students are either studying or practicing, why don’t you go?”
“What do they do that I have to do?” She glanced at me.
I was shocked, what a proud white swan!
“Teacher just thinks that you shouldn’t waste your time here.”
“Heh …” she sneers full of concern, “Should? Shouldn’t? You adults always like to use that tone to lecture people. It’s as if I don’t have a mind of my own and I have to listen to all your ‘shoulds’ and ‘shouldn’ts’! But Ms. Laura, can you tell us which things in this world are ‘shoulds’ and which things are ‘shouldn’ts’? Is there any clear line between should and shouldn’t?”
I was dumbfounded by what she said.
She looked at me with eyes that seemed to have the magic power to penetrate everything.
She turned her face away again and quietly looked out the window at the rain. I stood there, unable to leave, unable to stay, the first time I was made to feel so frustrated by a student.
It was only when the two girls who had just been studying came to me with their workbooks that I was relieved of this situation.
They whispered to me, “Teacher, I told you to ignore her! Even her own father can’t stand that temper!”
“That’s right! I heard she ran away from home again.”
“Ran away from home?” I was stunned, “Where does she live now?”
“Just across the street, in the school dormitory!”
After class I walked home, just to pass that road, remembering the words of the two students, I couldn’t help but look toward the row of school dormitories.
I had heard that the student dormitories of art schools were no different from high-end neighborhoods. A row of beautifully chic white buildings, each building has five floors, inside with an elevator. Dormitory courtyard with all kinds of sports equipment, there is a central garden. Outside the dormitory, there is a pedestrian street with a variety of distinctive clothing stores, cafes, bookstores, and an artistic atmosphere everywhere.
At the end of the street is a convenience store.
I wanted to buy some daily necessities to go home, so I walked straight to the supermarket, and when I arrived at the door, I heard a confusion, only to see a tall girl dressed delicately, surrounded by two staff members in the store, who seemed to be arguing about something.
“Willow?” I was startled and rushed over.
She was holding a bottle of beer in her hand, her little face puffed out, her cheeks looking like they were tinted with peach blush.
“What happened?”
She ignored me and just flipped me off, the bottle pointing at the two staff members, “Are you selling this or not?”
“Not for sale!” The convenience store people also frowned, “You have a student ID, you’re a student of this school, we can’t sell alcohol to students!”
“I’ll give you double! Triple!” Willow screamed.
“No sale, no sale, hurry up!” The clerk was already showing impatience and came up to pull her out.
I hurriedly stopped in the middle, “Excuse me, I’m her teacher … May I ask what’s going on?”