The One in the Background | Completed

Chapter 5

I groaned as my alarm woke me up. I'm usually okay with mornings, but today I was not having it. I rolled off the bed and fell on the floor making a loud thud.

"Ugh," I groan.

I hopped in the shower to help wake me up. Then I started my morning routine. Once I was all ready, I grabbed my phone and rolled the railing down the stairs.

I went over to the kitchen and grabbed a bite to eat. Today, I went with oatmeal. I loaded a bunch of brown sugar into the bland oats, until it turned a deeper shade of brown. Perfect.

I sat down and enjoyed my food, until Ryan barged into the kitchen.

"Geez Ryan!" I shouted at him.

"Sorry, I woke up late."

"We have like 20 minutes, no need to rush."

"Well, I need to eat, so I do need to rush."

"Whatever," I sigh, knowing this conversation would never go anywhere.

~*~*~

"Bye Ryan!" I yell to my brother as I slam his door shut. I race up to the school.

I slow down, realizing that I am running into school. I have no clue why either, it's not like anything exciting will ever happen here.

I drop off my stuff at my locker, and go find Haley, like always. As I made my way over to her locker, I notice she isn't alone. I stop dead in my tracks and stare. She is with Joey! And to make it even better, she is blushing. Aw, they're so cute. I could nev-

"Ah!" I shout as I tumble to the ground. I guess it was kind of stupid to stand in the middle of the hallway.

"Mia! I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." Leo apologizes, and helps me up.

"Oh, seriously. It's my fault, I'm sorry. I should not have been standing there. And anyway, I'm perfectly fine."

"Good. I could never forgive myself is I hurt you," he says with a sweet smile.

"Aw, Leo. That's so sweet," I blush and give him a small hug.

"See you around?" He asks.

"Yeah," I say as we part ways.. I continue on my journey to math, not planning to ruin Haley and Joey's time together.

"Hey," a voice says behind me.

"Hi Logan," I turn around and smile. Geez, I feel so popular.

"So, what was that about?" He asks.

"Uh, what, Leo?"

"Yeah, in the hallway."

"Oh, well he just bumped into me and I fell, and he helped me back up. Why?"

"Oh nothing, just wondering," he says and walks away.

Weird. I think to myself, as I find my seat in 1st hour.

A couple minutes later, Haley walks in and finds her seat right next to me.

"Oh my god, Mia!" Haley exclaims as she starts her story, "Let me just sum it up, I'll give you the details later. So I was just standing there, and Joey came and he was all like 'hey,' and I was all like, 'hey.' Then we started talking, and he was super interested in me, and I was super interested in him, and then all of a sudden, he just asks me on a date. Of course I said yes, and he said he is gonna take me out to dinner and a movie on Sunday," she says all in one breath.

"Haley! That is so amazing, I am so happy for you!" I said genuinely, as I could see the joy sparkle in her eyes.

Logan walks in, and he sits behind me.

"Hi girls," he says.

"Hi," we say in sync.

"Congrats Haley, Joey would not shut up about asking you out,"

"Thank you so much! He really kept talking about me?" She asked, her smile growing wider.

"Yep," he said.

"All good things?"

"Yep."

"Oh my god. Mia, help! Ima die from happiness!" She fell back into her seat and sighed.

"It's like her fairytale came true." I said smiling, just as the bell rang.

"Hello class. I hope everyone did their homework. Pull that out now." Mr. Monotone said.

I pulled mine out, luckily I completed them all except for #4.

"Okay class, over the weekend I made sticks with your names on them. I will pull sticks for each problem. The first person is Andrew. Andrew, how do you do number one?" He said, and I mentally groaned. I hate this class, and I hate these sticks. I, of course, will be pulled for #4, only because that's just how it goes.

"Good job Andrew. Next is Chloe. Do number two. . .Good job Chloe. Next is Jeff. Do number three," he says over and over again. Going over homework usually takes half the period, if not more. He just talks so freaking slow.

"Good job Jeff. Next is . . .Mia." I swear his voice lowered 5 octaves when he said my name. "Do number four."

"Oh, um, I didn't get that one. I could do five though," I said innocently.

"I'm sorry. You didn't get that one? Well, do it now. We're waiting, Ms. Johnson,"

"No, I can do it," Haley pipes up.

"Excuse me? Haley, darling. I didn't pull your stick, did I? That means that you don't talk," he sneers. "Go Mia, what are you waiting for?"

"Uhm, okay. Do you multiply by the squared root of 6 first?" I ask, unsure of what I'm doing. I can feel my face turning red.

"Mia, why on Earth would you do that? Try again." Mr. K scoffs at me.

"Oh, sorry. Do you just divide by 4 then?" I ask staring down at my paper.

"No, you do not," he said before loudly muttering, "stupid child."

"Excuse me, Mr. K," Logan stands up. "Stop being rude to your students. I just so happened to catch all of this on video. The way you are treating Mia today and Friday is unacceptable. There is no way you are stopping me. I am taking Mia down to the principal's office to reports this." Logan grabs my hand and pulls me out of the classroom.

I hear Mr. K's shouts behind us, but they eventually fade.

"Hey, Mia. Are you okay?" He stopped and turned to me, so we were facing each other.

"Yeah, I guess. I just feel so stupid and embarrassed." I say truthfully, feeling a single tear roll down my cheek.

"Mia, you aren't stupid. I struggled with that problem too. That was the hardest one and he knew it."

"It doesn't feel good to be bullied by a teacher," I say as a few more tears come.

"Don't cry, beautiful. We'll fix it. I'll fix it." He whispers as he brings me into a tight hug, and kisses the top of my head.

After a minute or two, we pull apart, and I wipe my face, clearing any stray tears.

"Okay, let's go talk to the principal," he says, as he smiles down at me.

"Okay," I reply as I return the smile.

Today is a weird day.