A Higher Calling

Miss Eliza Matthews sat at her desk, the quiet hum of the overhead lights filling the stillness of the empty classroom. The smell of dry-erase markers lingered in the air,a familiar scent she had once associated with routine, providing comfort to her over the past few years. She had prided herself on keeping to her routine, the stability that it gave her, the predictability. Teaching can be chaotic at times, and having a routine helped you reset.

Early mornings, fresh starts. That's what her father had always taught her. Give yourself a chance to be ready for the students, and give the students a chance to try again, no matter what happened the day before. Generational wisdom, teacher-to-teacher, had guided her to this point of her career. In so many ways she was going to miss it.

That morning was different though. Her whole routine, her whole guiding light, had to shift. She was no longer aiming for a long career in education, shaping generations of young minds, preparing them for a waiting world. No, her focus had to narrow. Narrow in some ways. In other, very profound ways, it would be required to broaden.

She traced her fingers over the polished oak surface of her desk. She would always think fondly of the time that she was allotted to spend at South Point High School, the time where she opened up history, providing context as to why things were the way they were. It was, she knew, an honour that not many people get to share. Being a teacher was a calling.

A calling that she had obviously misheard.

Joey Granger. The name was firmly settled in her mind. She breathed it in, she breathed it out. Joey. Breath. Granger. Breath. She was surprised at how quickly her new paradigm had taken hold. She also felt surprised that it had taken so long for her to adopt this new paradigm. In a way, Eliza felt more than a little stupid. Joey Granger had sat in her class all year, and yet she had continued on teaching as if he were just another student.

But he was nothing of the sort! She had given him a piece of her attention all year. A small piece, no more than any of the other youths who attended her classes. She had assessed him as a mediocre student. A failure, really, who didn’t apply himself.

But now she could see the error in her thinking. The problem hadn’t been Joey Granger. The problem had been Eliza Matthews! She had completely missed the mark of what her job actually was. She had done nothing to help him succeed, to help him believe in himself, not to mention helping him become a man. No wonder his grades had been so abysmal.

A soft knock on the doorframe pulled her from her thoughts. She looked up to see Mrs. Doris Callahan, the biology teacher, peering in.

“Eliza, morning! Heard some rumors flying around. Are you really thinking about leaving us?”

Eliza offered her a polite, enigmatic smile. “I’m afraid so. This will be my last semester. I believe it’s time for me to take a look at my life and make some big changes.”

Doris raised an eyebrow. “Big changes? Did you find another school?”

“Honestly, I think South Point will be my last teaching job,” Eliza said, feeling a little sad at the admission, “It’s time I try something new.”

“You told me that you’ve been wanting to become a teacher since you were in grade school, like your parents. I have a hard time imagining you doing anything else.”

“Sometimes,” Eliza said slowly, “you realize there’s more to life than what you thought you wanted.”

Doris blinked, clearly puzzled by the cryptic response. “Well, if you’re leaving, we’ll miss you. The kids adore you, even if you are tough on them.”

“Thank you,” Eliza replied, “I’ll miss you too. Don’t worry, we can stay in touch.”

Rising from her seat, she crossed the classroom and hugged Doris. The older teacher had been a mentor for her when she had first been hired at South Point. It would be sad to stop working together, but it was her job to stay with Joey. This teaching thing? That was someone else’s job. It would be weird if she tried to stay.

Doris warmly returned the hug, then turned to leave the classroom to go prep her own room. Before leaving, though, she paused and looked at Eliza.

“You look absolutely fetching today,” she said with a smile, “you’ll have to be careful. You know half the boys in your class have a crush on you. You’re here to teach history, not break their little hearts.”

The pair of them shared a laugh, then parted ways. If only Doris knew. Eliza didn’t care about any of those other hearts. The beating of just one mattered to Eliza.

For years, Eliza had prided herself on her professionalism. She’d always been “Miss Matthews,” the stern, unapproachable history teacher. The one who demanded excellence, who tolerated no nonsense, who kept her personal life walled off from the classroom. Her wardrobe reflected that image—sleek pencil skirts, conservative blouses, sensible heels. Clothing that asserted her authority and kept her students focused on their studies.

But that morning, standing in front of her closet, she'd felt a shift. She hadn’t reached for her usual uniform of professionalism. Instead, she’d hesitated, her fingers trailing over hangers, her mind fixating on one thought: What would Joey like to see me in?

The question had taken root so naturally, so firmly, that it felt like it had always been there. It wasn’t about what her colleagues might think or even what her students would notice. No, it was about him. Joey Granger. Her real purpose now.

She’d settled on a fitted blouse in a soft, pale blue that highlighted her eyes and a skirt that skimmed her hips just enough to hint at her curves. Beneath her clothes, she’d made another choice—lace-trimmed black lingerie that she hadn’t worn in years. She could still feel the delicate fabric brushing against her skin, a secret indulgence that felt both thrilling and oddly right. If she was going to nurture Joey, to build his confidence, to help him grow into a man, she might as well start by showing him what he had to look forward to.

As the bell rang and the first few students trickled in, Eliza sat straighter in her chair, smoothing her skirt over her knees. Her sharp, gray eyes scanned the doorway, searching for him. The other students barely registered to her anymore; they were background noise, their chatter distant and irrelevant.

She would teach them. For now. Teaching was Eliza’s only conduit to Joey Granger. For now. But once she was done her contract with the school, once she had ensured that Joey had graduated and was focused on his next success, these students would be gone from Eliza’s mind, gone from Eliza’s memory. She knew what her job was, she knew who it was, and she was ready to do a great job. She just needed a little bit of patience.

Not too much patience, though. Joey had only a few short weeks left of school, and in the meantime, she got to see him every day. Watching the irrelevant students file in, Eliza **** a smile, looking up at the clock and calculating the minutes until third period, when she would get to see her Joey, when she could finally get to work.