4-Tour Guide
1160 Words
Chapter 4
Avaia's POV
“Excuse me?” I was dumb-founded.
I had no idea who he was, but he looked at me so convincingly, that it made me scared.
“You said you would never set foot in New York again after what I did to you. I am so sorry, I know I hurt you.” He looked hurt, and I could almost see tears in his eyes.
I pulled my arm away from his grip and took a step back from him.
The door to the counselor's office was pulled open and a woman stepped out. She stared at me and looked at the boy, before addressing him.
“Gregory, you shouldn't be here. Take a walk back to Ms. Vivian, will you? Now, go.”
She waved him off with her hand, and motioned for me to go in.
“Come on in, dear. Sit.”
I took a seat and waited for her to settle in. The name plate on the table read;
‘Lila Fernandez.’
She was a short, middle-aged woman with a perm that looked too black to be natural, and a lasting smile plastered on her face like it could never wear off.
She took her seat and clasped her palms together on the table, looking me over with her plastic smile.
“You must be new. I have never seen you around and I sure would know if I had ever registered you.”
“No, you don't know me. Huh…yeah. I'm new.”
“What's your name?”
“Avaia. Avaia Summers.” I tried not to look her in the eye for too long, so she would not see the look of disgust I most definitely had on my face.
“Okay. Well, Avaia, you will have to come back tomorrow for the proper log-in, but you can take your classes for today.”
She unclasped her palms, shuffled some notes on her desk, and then clasped them back together.
“I will assign a tour guide to you. He will see you to your class and he will basically help you in settling into the school.”
I gave a polite nod. I wanted her to do it as fast as possible, because I was already getting uncomfortable being in there with her.
She released her palms and stretched for the mic that sat at a side of her table. Then, she called into it;
“Zion Hampton, please report to the counselor's office immediately. Zion Hampton, report to the counselor's office immediately.”
She pushed the mic away and resumed her position again.
“So, tell me a little about yourself, Avaia.” Shewas smiling her plastic smile.
“Huh…” I threw my hands in air, in a kind of ‘I don't know what to say’ way. It was an odd question to ask someone who was just starting at your school, if you ask me.
She chucked like I had said something funny, but continued to stare at me silently, waiting for an answer.
“I just moved here with my dad. I am 17.” That was the best I could do.
It took about 20 minutes, and I felt so relieved when I heard a knock on the door.
She told him to come in, and towering over 6’ was a brown skinned well-trimmed guy. His muscles were firm like a letter written in bold and his face was well made.
“Zion. Thank you for coming. This is Avaia Summers.” She gestured towards me.
“She is just starting here, and I would love for you to be her tour guide.”
“Tour guide? But, I’m not one of the volunteers, ma'am.” His brows furrowed in confusion.
“I know that, but I figured you could win back those extra credits this way. Make sure Ms. Summers is well settled in by the end of the week and you have your complete marks.”
She kept on smiling at him, but I could tell he didn't find any of it amusing. The muscles in his jaw flexed and his jaw tightened in annoyance, but he remained composed.
“Of course, ma'am.” He turned to me. “Avaia? We can go now.”
I got up and pulled my bag over my left shoulder. As soon as we stepped out the door, I spoke;
“You don't need to be my tour guide. I can find my way around. I have a friend who will be more than willing to help.”
I didn't want to be an inconvenience, not when he hadn't planned to be a guide.
He scoffed and side-eyed me.“A friend? That's funny.”
“Why?”
He suddenly stopped and turned to me.
“As your ordained tour guide, my first advice for you is to be very careful who you call your friend around here. We've got an over flowing number of snakes and vampires who aren't scared to eat you up.”
“Someone sounds hurt. Did your bestie tods your dirty linens out in the public, or have s*x with your girlfriend?” I rolled my eye and kept walking.
We were walking down the hall, and it almost seemed like he was skipping instead of walking.
“You think it's a joke? Just wait till you've spent a whole school year, then you'll see. But I doubt you'd last that long.”
“Oh, please. Enough of the mystery talk, do I really have to do this with you? I don't need a guide.”
He stopped in his tracks and turned to me again. This time pinning me against the locker, one hand above my head and the other in between my waist and arm.
“I have to earn my credits, darling. So, it isn't really up to you to decide how this goes. Stop being all bossy for once.”
His face was awfully close to mine in an instant and I felt like I was going to throw up.
“Get off me, you pervert!”
I went for a jab at his groin, using his shoulders as a leverage point. He let out a sharp grunt and stumbled backward, hands instinctively flying to his crotch as he doubled over.
“Serves you right,” I spat at him. “Next time, you don't corner a lady like that.”
He looked up at me with a mix of pain and disbelief. “You crazy little—”
“I don’t care what credits you think you need. Try that again and you’ll be limping for the rest of your life.”
He didn’t respond. Just groaned and leaned back against the lockers, trying to breathe through the pain.
“This tour guide is over.”
I looked at me for the last time, before walking hastily down the hallway and away from him.
- Writer
