My body guard is my man

"Even if you have the most expensive sports attire,you can't play with us," she was the volleyball captain, I had thought if I get a nice attire they would let me play but I was wrong. "You should know your le..." "Stella," someone interrupted her. It was Mr Hastings,our class teacher,"what is the reason as to why she shouldn't play with you?" I loved watching him talk, everything about him was so cute. My heart rate always increased every time I set my eyes on him. It was so sad he always appeared at times when I was being embarrassed but it always turned out well because he always sided with me. The closer he moved to where I stood,the more nervous I grew. "Mabel,are you okay?"he asked me when he finally reached my side. I knew everyone in the hall was looking at me at that moment. I was not the only one who crushed on Mr Hastings, several other girls did. He was so handsome, intelligent and cared for everyone and treated us all like his close friends. He was a gentleman with a great character. Though he was divorced and had two kids. Some boys were even jealousy of him because he took so much attention from the girls yet he was a teacher and a lot older. "Yes,am fine," when Stella had pushed me away, I wanted to cry. But when Mr Hastings appeared, I knew I could not show him my weak side. Our eyes made contact and balls of sweat started forming on my face so I looked away immediately. "Stella,why are you not letting her play....?"he turned to the volleyball captain. But I knew the reason as to why she didn't want me in her team. And I knew even if he gets her to accept me, everyone will get an excuse not to play the game. "It's...ok Mr Hastings,am not good at netball...,"he made me so nervous,"I mean volleyball. I will get going."I immediately picked my bag and ran out. I had saved for a month to get money that could buy an expensive sports attire but I was still turned away. I sat in class all alone and cried my pain out. If it was not for the scholarship,I would not have joined the school. I grew up in a low class family and all I had was a mother. I accepted the life style because I was fortunate enough to have a mother. But all that changed when I received a scholarship from the government to join a prestigious high school. I was very good at mathematics and volleyball and so I received a scholarship. "Mabel, get ready for the tough school times,"my friends from the elementary school assured me. But my mother encouraged me to go on. She assured me they were only jealousy of me and I knew it was the case. I was the only one from my elementary school who joined the prestigious high school. It was a reknown secondary school full of students from high class families. Most of them were government officials' children. Low class families would only afford to join if given a scholarship. But I was having a tough time just like my friends had told me. No one wanted to associate with me including some of the teachers apart from Mr Hastings. In fact apart from being a person of great character and handsome, treating me like a normal student attracted me to him. It was already seven weeks into the first school term but I had no single friend. I was treated like an outsider. The students always dressed expensively,we had school uniforms but anyone could recognize they were from rich families and I wasn't. There were some few students from the average class families who also didn't associate with those from the low class like mine and the high school families. All the other students smelt like Kings and queens, while they kept changing school shoes daily,I owned only one pair. However I was the best mathematics student but no one wanted to befriend me for that. The mathematics teacher himself never treated me nicely. Unfortunately even the students from low class families discriminated each other. Those who were accepted by the average and high class families were treated like personal assistants and I guess that was better than being discriminated completely. "You can't give up. You didn't go to make friends, just study hard,"my mother assured me when I complained,"it was not easy getting the scholarship my dear." I had decided to get used to the tough life and no friends too. I had tried to join the volleyball class but they always shunned me. Mr Hastings instead tried his best to bring me close to him. I never wanted him to be close and always tried to avoid him but he always found me. "If things are not going well, always find me,"he said. Squeezing my shoulder,"I know how hard everyone is acting towards you." And he would look at me like he knew how I felt about him. I was only 14 years,a minor so there was no way he would be attracted to me. *** "Why does Mr Hastings pay so much attention to you?"for the first time someone approached me. I looked up and they were three girls,my classmates. "Why don't you ask him that himself?"I was disappointed, how could someone approach me over such an issue. And besides that I had no answer to give them. "How dare you begger?"all the three grabbed my hair and started pulling it. I tried to fight but they were stronger and the other students just watched us. Fortunately the teacher on duty appeared and stopped us. And as I expected, he never punished them and never asked them to apologize to me. I tried to stop myself from crying but it was too much for me to handle. And while I sat in the field crying, one of the students approached me and told me I was needed in Mr Hastings's office. "I heard there was a fight,"tears filled my eyes once again, I tried to dry them but they kept falling down one by one. I finally told him how it all happened. He called in the girls and forced them to apologize to me. That made the other students envy me the more. And while they tried their best to treat me unfairly,the more Mr Hastings treated me nicely. With him,I had to bear anything that came my way. My feelings for him kept growing deeper. I grew to feel comfortable around him and he was always ready to show me every bit of care I needed. "I hope I never hear any more stories of bullying. I care about all of you and if you need me,you know where to find me,"he addressed the class the next morning,"am ready to listen to all of you. Let's treat each other fairly. Don't cross someone's boundaries if you don't coordinate. On that note,if you don't want to associate with Mabel, don't cross her boundaries. Let her be. I hope am clear on that." "Yes,"a few of the students replied. I had my eyes focused on the open book on my desk but I could tell many rolled their eyes and were not happy about how he defended me. "I don't want to get angry at any of my students so mark my words,"he added."Let's start the class now."