Driving in France - Part III

My third lesson began a little like this...I walked to the driving school with about ten different conversations going on in my head. As you might remember, I was going to have to somehow work with this ugly-dumb-ass-teacher-guy which meant I needed to apologize or work something out so we could begin afresh. Well, he was waiting for me in the car at 10am on the dot which was a good sign. He motioned for me to get in the car. He shook my hand as he does with each student when class begins.

"Look," I said forcing a smile and trying not to pass out from lack of oxygen to my brain as I was so nervous I could barely breath, "Let's just forget about last lesson. I said some things, you said some things. Let's just put it all behind us. I am ready to do that."

"No," he said staring at me blankly, "I cannot forget what you said to me. I cannot put it all behind us."

I probably exhaled loudly. Maybe I held my breath. Maybe my eyes popped out of my head. I can't remember my reaction. I must have blocked it out since the situation sucked so bad. I obviously made it into the car at some point.

We began driving, he instructing me to turn right, turn left. We left the town center and were driving through what appeared to be an industrial zone, empty with large tilt-up buildings everywhere. I saw a big large gate.

"Go in there and park," he instructed me.

We went in through the gates and parked.

"Leave the engine on," he said.

Soon, two girls in their twenties got into the back of the car carrying books. One had dark brown eyes and very bad skin like Boo Boo. The other girl was petite and blond. Turns out we were picking up some chics at their professional business school, the equal to DeVry Institute I would say.

"Okay, let's go," Boo Boo said.

We pulled out and he began talking to the brown-eyed girl.
"So, how did your classes go?"

"Ohh, Boo Boo. I am having a hard time in math and English. They are just so hard!"

"Did you get your report cards? Show me, show me."

The girl passed a sheet of paper over to him.

I kept my eyes on the road while he chatted with this girl. He still gave me instructions now and then. The fact he wasn't concentrating too much on me anymore actually made me relax a little.

"You got a C in Math? Why? Why? You know better than that!" he said.

"Boo Boo, please! Don't give me any shit, okay?"

"Do I need to turn here?" I interrupted.

"No, no! Straight, go straight!"

"Oh, you have an accent. Where are you from?," the brown eyed girl asked me.

"The US," I said glancing at her in my rear view mirror.

"Oh, you're so lucky! You speak English and French! I want to go to the US so badly!," she said.

"Well, you should go. That's the best way to learn English," I said.

"I will one day, but first I'm getting married," she said smiling.

"Oh, really! You're getting married?"

"Yes. I'm marrying Boo Boo!"

I almost choked when she said that! I looked at Boo Boo. Boo Boo looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "Yep, someone loves me..."

At that point, Boo Boo and I both started laughing. I don't know, but somehow the fact that we hated each other (although hate is a strong word) and he was marrying this young chic, well, it almost brought us together in an inexplicable way.

"Wow!," I said and the girl had no idea how full-packed with meaning my "wow" really was as I eyed Boo Boo and he glanced at me sideways.

We made it back to the school. We had at last done one full hour. I felt my driving was going rather smoothly but maybe Boo Boo was just too distracted that day to notice. And that concluded our third lesson.