Berenice – The Beautiful Head Girl
Sometimes when adding posts to my website I get reminded of an event or person from my past.
When I was in my first year at comprehensive school the head girl was a gorgeous creature by the name of Berenice Fussell who was in the sixth form, her final year. Berenice was tall beautiful and wore her blonde hair in ringlets, she was very nice person but unknowingly or even knowingly broke the heart of many young prepubescent boys me included.
One day while plying football in the playground at lunch break I tripped and fell badly, tearing the knee of my uniform trousers and grazing my knee badly. On such occasions we would go to the school secretary so I made my way to the entrance doors. Berenice was standing by the doors ensuring no one entered as it wasn’t allowed at break time. I told her what I’d done and that I wanted to go to the school secretary. Bernice said I didn’t need to do that, she would fix me up herself and led me to a classroom where she told me to sit on a chair while she fetched the first aid box.
As Berenice was cleaning up my knee and applying some ointment, cotton wool and tape I felt I was in heaven. As much as I wanted her to be mine forever and a day I knew I had more chance of playing for Arsenal and that was nil as I was and still am total crap at football. But at that moment in time in my mind she was mine and it was well worth a grazed knee and a torn pair of trousers to have her so close to me, talk to me and make me feel I was on cloud nine, in heaven. I could feel her breath on me, I could smell the gentle aroma of her perfume. I thought I must be having a dream, one that I didn’t want to end.
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Some years later a friend of my mom told me that her daughter had started infant school and that her teacher was really nice, a lady called Berenice Fussell. I went cold, as thoughts of Berenice, the head girl who I had a crush on brought back so many memories or rather wishes.
Many years later I googled her name and came upon a school’s website and she was listed as the headmistress. Even though many decades had passed I wanted to contact this woman and thank her for what she did and let her know that I remember her well. I wasn’t sure if the email would reach her and I certainly didn’t expect a reply but much to my surprise I did. Berenice thanked me in a professional way for my email, adding that she had (fixed) up many boys in her time.
Since then I have had no contact apart from sending an email to wish her a Happy Christmas. Now Berenice doesn’t come up in Google searches and may not be alive thought I trully hope she is, retired with happy memories of her life. It doesn’t seem possible that the girl I had a crush on is now an elderly lady, possibly a grandmother. It just goes to show how short life is and how quickly time passes.
If by some miracle you read this Berenice, you were the girl of my dreams though I knew my dreams were just that, dreams and they would never become a reality.
I’m sure she didn’t cane her pupils much but I’m sure if I posted a picture of her as she was many boys and girls would wish she would or had.
The featured image is not Berenice but used with the kind permission of my friends at St. MacKenzies