All This Time

REJECTED?!

“Uhm… Hi sir Tanner”, Soleil hesitated. Tanner was staring at Soleil closely that she felt uncomfortable. “Did you need anything?”

“Hi. I was wondering if I could talk to you, miss Soleil?” Tanner looked nervous like he was about to throw up.

I wonder what’s wrong, Soleil thought.

“Sure, have a seat please.”

“Thanks.” Tanner sat down on the seat in front of Soleil, stood up, hesitated, then sat down again. “Are you okay, sir?” Soleil was confused by his actions.

“Yeah, uhm…” he started, then he stood up again, walked around the table and sat down on the seat beside Soleil.

“Look.” He tried to look Soleil in the eyes, but then dropped his gaze and blushed.

“Go ahead sir, it’s okay.” Soleil encouraged. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Tanner looked into Soleil’s eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I heard about what happened with Kara and I wanted to let you know that I’m not dating her. I already spoke with her to lay off you and to not bother you, and that I don’t really feel the same way about her. I tried to be firm with her, hopefully she finally gets the idea.” He said all of this in a rush.

“I just, I also wanted to say that I think you’re a really good person, Soleil, I mean, miss Soleil, and that I-I…I like you.” He ended, looking at Soleil hopefully.

Soleil was stunned, she wasn’t expecting this. Not that it was bad, but she didn’t want to cause any trouble, especially since this is her first real job.

“Sir Tanner, I am really, uhm, flattered, and I’m sure you’re a good guy as well, but the thing is, I – I want to focus on work, and I don’t need any distractions, I’m sorry.” Soleil said, wringing her hands, feeling guilty.

Tanner’s eyes widened and he waved his hands while laughing nervously. “Oh.. I wasn’t expecting anything, I’m sorry if you feel pressured. It just came out. No need to apologize, I know we don’t know each other that well, but I just, I think you’re amazing. Sorry…” he finished lamely.

“No need to apologize either, sir. Thank you for understanding. I do hope things won’t get awkward between us.” Soleil smiled a little at Tanner and offered her hand.

“No problem”, he said, shaking her hand and smiling warmly.

Soleil was just getting out of the shower when her phone began ringing. She glanced at her phone to see Mina calling. Soleil rolled her eyes and laughed, knowing what this call was about.

“Hello?” Soleil answered while laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Mina sounded annoyed, but then changed her tune completely to ask “Sooooo, tell me, what did you two talk about?!”

“Demanding, are we? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Soleil said, stifling her laughter.

“C’mon Soleil, give it up! Tanner admitted he likes you, didn’t he?!”

Soleil sighed, this is why she didn’t like being linked to anyone romantically at work. Rumor gets around in lighting speed.

“Yes, but I told him I don’t want to cause trouble and I just want to focus at work, he respected that, and so should you.”

“Boo.” Mina replied. “What else did he say? How did he take it?”

“We just shook hands afterward, that’s it. It ain’t anything juicy, if that’s what you were after.” Soleil sniped.

“Hmph, we’ll see. Oh well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then, bo-rrriiing!” Mina laughed before ending the call.

“Sheesh.” Soleil sighed, exasperated. She was about to put her phone down when she saw a message request notification.

Opening it, she saw it was Parker. “Hm? How’d he find me on f*******:?”

“Saem… I don’t know what to do, after class earlier, I just blurted out that I love Michelle, to her face! What am I going to do now???? HELP MEEEEEEEE.”, the message read.

Soleil knitted her eyebrows in worry, “Oh no, poor Parker, this kid…”

“What did you say exactly?” Soleil replied.

After a beat, she saw Parker typing a response. “I said I wanted to ask her something, but instead of asking, I just said I loved her. Waaah.”

“Was there anybody else when you said it?”

“No. Just us two in the corridor.”

“That’s much better than having everybody else hear it. What did she say?”

“She said she doesn’t know what to say, and then she left after saying sorry. :(“

I guess that’s two people turned down today. Oof. Soleil thought to herself.

“It’s okay Parker, just, be yourself and show Michelle how good you are, maybe she’ll realize it and likes you back.” Soleil said. “But don’t make her feel pressured or she’ll think it’s annoying.” She added.

“I guess… how can I face her tomorrow though?” Parker asked.

“You’ll be okay, just be your normal self. Don’t be scared, I know it’s scary, but just act natural, okay?”

“Aight, thanks saem. Goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you.” Soleil closed her phone and sat down on her bed, suddenly feeling tired. Today was just not a good day for declarations, I guess.

“Saem! Saem!” Parker waved at Soleil while trying to keep his head down. It was the morning assembly and the teachers were going around to monitor the students and although it was a bit noisy, most of them were already seated.

Soleil went up to the aisle to stand close to Parker and whispered “What’s wrong?”, while looking around to check for any trouble.

“Saem, Michelle texted me earlier, she said she wanted to talk to me. I’m so nervous I can’t sit still. What do I do?” Parker’s face was filled with worry it looked almost comical, Soleil had to keep her face neutral to avoid offending him.

“That’s okay Parker, think of it as a good sign. Just be yourself, okay? Don’t be too nervous, hear what she has to say first and don’t get too ahead of yourself, you look like you’re about to pee in your pants with worry.”  Soleil said, grinning at him.

Parker eyes widened, “Saeeeem.” He snorted. “Don’t jinx me.” He smiled back and relaxed a bit. “Thanks saem. You’re the best.”

“You know it.” Soleil winked at Parker and resumed walking around the gym.

The day went by uneventfully and Soleil was about to get to her last class, Parker’s class at 10-D. She was talking to another student while waiting for the class to finish when Tanner opened the door and called her.

“Hey miss Soleil, you can go inside now, the kids are just putting away their things.” He said, smiling warmly at her.

“Thank you sir.” Smiling back, Soleil took the class passes from Tanner. “I hope they behave.” Tanner laughed and waved at Soleil and left. Soleil said goodbye to the student she was talking to and went inside the room.

When she stepped inside the door, a scene she did not expect to see was unfolding in front of her. In what seemed like slow motion, she saw that there were a group of guys surrounding Hyun Min, whose hand was stretching slowly towards another student’s face. As his fist collided with the student’s nose, Soleil saw a few drops of blood fall to the floor.

“HEY!” Soleil was fuming, she marched towards the students gathered and pulled Hyun Min away from the other student. As she got a closer look, she saw that the student Hyun Min punched was Ero Santos, a small but overly confident student that Soleil found a bit annoying.

“You, come with me.” Soleil pointed at Hyun Min and then looked around the crowd. “Parker!” Parker’s head poked out from between two other boy and answered, “Yes miss?”

“Bring Ero to the clinic, the rest of you, sit down and stay seated. Vice, you take charge, I’ll talk to you all later.” The vice-president, Jason, stood up and went in front of the room beside the teacher’s table.

“Yes, miss!” Jason and Parker both said. Parker pulled Ero away from the crowd and led him out the room.

Looking at Hyun Min, Soleil grabbed his arms and marched him outside.

While they were going down the stairs, Hyun Min quietly asked, “Am I going to get kicked out of school, miss?” He sounded tired and sad.

“It depends, I think best case is you’ll get suspended. You know violence is prohibited in school.” Soleil paused and looked at Hyun Min closely and saw that he was looking scared. “What happened, Hyun Min?”

Hyun Min sighed and scratched his head. “I… blacked out because I was so mad.” He said in stunted English. “Ero was… he said I was looking at his girlfriend funny. Like I was trying to see inside her uniform. I was just staring because I was thinking. You know sometimes, when you’re thinking of something?” He continued.

“I understand. Like you’re staring off into space?” Soleil prompted. Hyun Min nodded. “I don’t even like his girlfriend. Everybody thinks I’m weird.”

Soleil’s heart swelled with pity. She patted Hyun Min on his back and pulled him aside. There were students going up the stairs and she wanted to avoid others hearing them.

“I understand Hyun Min, but you also need to understand, violence is not a good response. You have to take responsibility for hurting Ero. His parents might freak.”

Hyun Min nodded and sighed again. “I’m sorry miss.”

“Hey, you apologize to Ero, okay? I know he’s arrogant, but you were both in the wrong, we’ll talk more later. First we need to get to the disciplinary office.”

“Okay” Hyun Min shuffled his feet and went down the stairs, pausing every now and then to check that Soleil followed behind him.

When they got in front of the office, Soleil stopped to face Hyun Min.

“If it’s any consolation, and don’t tell the others this” Soleil whispered, “at least Ero will know not to bother you in the future, he looked kinda scared of you.” Soleil smiled and opened the door. Hyun Min gave Soleil a small smile in return and followed her into the office.