Here’s to Never Growing Up (teacherxstudent)

Chapter 4

He walked into the room with the familiar stride that would've gotten me completely enticed a few years back. Alex kept glaring at him and seemed to be nearly growling. I just couldn't be bothered. What's he doing in this school anyways? He told me he might be my teacher again, but I still haven't had any classes with him... and there's no way he's replacing Mr. Damon. I'll protest if I have to. A one-man protest in front of the principal's office with posters and all.

It didn't even take a second for him to notice me. It's like he has a radar for stupid, naïve girls. He gulped and became flustered as if he had been the victim.

All he did for the full ninety minutes was sit back on his chair, typing and smiling onto his computer. My eyes occasionally wandered towards him. What's he smiling at, has he gotten a new play toy already?

Inevitable as it was, I wasn't able to escape his glance. I rapidly averted mine and he spoke up to the class, "Don't forget guys, I need to turn your papers to your teacher after this period, so just make sure I have something to hand in."

I looked back at my paper. Blank. I thought I had at least written down a sentence. s**t.

Rapidly, I read over the assignment a couple of times and started writing whatever came to my mind. Soon enough, Alex had finished and I was not yet done with half a page. My hand trembled and my handwriting deteriorated progressively as I did my best to finish on time. However, I was not in time to finish before the bell rang. All students got up and marched out of the room. Their ruckus and turmoil blocked my thoughts and I couldn't focus.

After collecting everyone else's papers, the i***t who'd gotten me distracted stood in front of my seat, waiting. Alex stood by me attentively as if guarding a safe. Seeing as no one else was asking for extra time, I finished scribbling the last couple of words (which I assume were in the incorrect order) and shoved the paper onto his hands. I'd rather have a 'fail' mark than be left alone with the jerk.

"You know, I could give you some time during lunch to finish." he said, unwilling to accept my unfinished assignment.

"No thanks. I'm good." I answered swiftly, running out the room with Alex.

Once she opened her mouth to speak, I didn't even need to stop her. She ceased herself as her eyes laid on Jackie who passed by with an aura unrecognizable to us. I took a step towards her, but Alex's arm stretched in front of me like a boom barrier, preventing me from going any further. I looked at her serious face staring at Jackie and wondered how she could just stay put while our friend is suffering.

Soon enough Annie and Danny joined us and we walked together to our next class: English Literature.

The teacher joked as usual and everyone laughed along with him, but somehow I couldn't focus on a word he was saying. I looked back at Jackie with concern. She turned to face the window, probably noticing my intrusiveness. Why won't she talk to us at least?

A shock ran up my spine as Jackie was called upon. Please don't say anything stupid, I prayed. But there was no solution to a clown's fatuities. "Is my class so boring to make you look like you're dying inside?"

My eyes widened. I shook my hand in front of my neck, signaling him to be quiet. The jester immediately took note of the gesture and laughed it off, distracting everyone with something else. As he noticed Jackie's watering eyes, the usually-cool guy became somewhat flustered and instructed everyone to prepare a presentation on a character of choice from The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea as he called Jackie out of the room to have a 'chat'.

I watched attentively. Noticing that Mr. D had left the door cracked ajar, I raised myself from my seat and grabbed my books.

"Hey guys, can I pair up with you?" I approached the snobby girls sitting in the front row, closest to the door. They shot me a look of disgust and I responded with a smile "Great!" as I pulled a chair next to them.

The snobbiest one was convinced that no one else could do a job as good as her, so she forbid me from even lift up a finger. Better for me. I leaned back and did my best in eavesdropping, just like in a kid's game of spying.

All I could hear was Mr. D's voice followed by sobs. She's still not speaking. Unbelievable. I leaned back further to make sure I wouldn't miss any part of the conversation in case Jackie ever decides to open that mouth to anyone besides that i***t, Jake. Jackie and Jake, it's almost ridiculous.

While leaning back, the chair lost its balance and soon enough I'd fallen on the floor with a loud thud followed by a crowd of goggly eyes. I rubbed my head where it had hit the door and laughed out to the public. As a clown leaves the room, another must take his place, isn't that right?

The door knob thundered and the sound of gritting teeth could almost be heard as Jackie opened the door. I feared for my life as the lion had been much too provoked. The crowd stared in delight, waiting to witness the next act, but it was too late. The feline had been released out of its cage and its claws were thirsty for blood. My blood.

"You are unbelievable, Em!" I could almost see the smoke blowing wildly from her ears and the vein bulging on her forehead. "You were eavesdropping?!"

Now, I have three choices for dealing with this situation. I can either apologize and admit my stupidity, lie and make her angrier, or... nope. I guess neither of these wiser choices would enter my flustered brain in the spur of the moment. Only the stupidest idea would.

My eyebrows were brought together and my lips tightened. I pushed Jackie back outside and shut the door behind me. Mr. D was still standing next to us, completely clueless of how to deal with my unpredictable response. Jackie was pinned against the wall and I was the culprit, grabbing her by the collar.

"Now, you listen here, Jackie. You've been acting really strange lately and you haven't spoken to us for days. You can't just expect me to sit quiet and shrug it off as just a phase. You're incredibly strong and I've always admired you for that. So it's only obvious that I'd be alarmed to see you in such a state. It's like Jackie's not in there anymore. Where is she and what happened to her? And don't you even think of walking away without giving me a proper answer."

She immediately broke into tears. It's not the response I was hoping for, but hey, at least she's finally showing some sort of emotion.

"It's about Jake." She sobbed. No duh, and here I was thinking it was about some mean kid who stole your candy.

My parents found out about that and they took me to a doctor." She then forced a laugh and raised her arms. "Well, turns out I'm not pregnant... but I'm not allowed to see him anymore." Tears rolled down her cheeks, becoming larger and more frequent. I wiped them away and gulped, thinking of anything I could say to make her feel better.

"Did you really do as they ordered?"

"No way! I can't just stop seeing Jake. I'm not some sort of bimbo like the whole football team claims. I love him. I really do. But..."

"What?"

"...I think he might be giving up on me."

"Oh, Jackie, you can't possibly know –"

"Yes I can! He's been a lot angrier, always picking fights and claiming that I don't love him enough and that I'm just ruining his life and killing his precious time."

"Well, if he truly loves you, then he'd understand the situation you're in."

"So I'm just a loser whose boyfriend is using her and can't even realize it." It's like I'm reliving the past, but in a different point of view. I gulped. I figure I shouldn't have said that.

"That's not what I meant, Jackie." but somehow it's the truth. "I... uh..."

"Let me take it from here, Emily." Mr. D placed a hand on Jackie's shoulder and saved me from digging myself even deeper. His words worked like magic. Somehow, having absolutely no knowledge of the situation, he cleared up all grey clouds and Jackie's tears had been replaced with recuperating hints of laughter. I stood there quietly, knowing my words would only be like landmines to me, digging me deeper with regret, and possibly cost me a friend.

Jackie was sent to the bathroom to wash her face and cool down and I was dragged back into the classroom by an evil, yet genius, clown. At the ending of the period, I clarified the whole situation and thanked him for helping me deal with it. He deserved to know the truth. But his secret to controlling the foreign situation remains but a mystery to me.

"You don't need to admire Jackie for her strength, Emily. You're a pretty good kid, and you're extremely loyal to your friends. You're the kind of person who'd certainly do something if your friends were in trouble. That's a quality you should admire in yourself." he said to me before I left with a huge grin plastered on my face.

Jackie didn't go back into the English classroom after her visit to the restroom, but I reckoned she was just fine. This assumption was later confirmed as she was back sitting with us at our usual table outside the cafeteria. She hugged me tighter than ever and squeezed my lungs out as I begged for mercy and gasped for air.

"Hey girls... and guy." Clara, the female jock and my competitor since we were merely three appeared out of nowhere. "You know that, apparently, we have this huge project for philosophy class that's only worth like fifty percent of our final grade, right?"

"Yeah, Mr. Law told us that in the beginning of the year." Danny replied. "But it's only due in like three months, so chill. We've got loads of time."

"Uhuh..." Clara raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, no. We have like two weeks to do it."

"WHAT?" Our whole table erupted, except for Alex who's taking History instead of Philosophy.

"How do you know this?" Annie asked in genuine panic.

"Mr. Law told me himself. He thinks everyone else knows, yet he only told me."

"How does he expect us to know if he hasn't even told us the dates changed? Through telepathy?" I gritted my teeth. "Seriously, that guy has become more of a jerk ever since his daughter was born. Old age is hitting him hard."