Girl in a Hoodie: Where the Future Lies

Chapter 16

James's POV:

The buzzing noises of the small children chatting echoes from the playground on the other side of the fence from where Riley and I were standing, waiting to pick up Rose. It was the usual screams and yells of excitement from it being home time that were being heard. I guess it's not just some teenagers that find school to be the most brutal thing in the world - kids understand too.

It takes a while, but soon enough the door of the school opens and their teacher, Miss Brew, stands to the side of it, allowing it to stay open as she called out several names of children. What's surprising is how she's probably been working at this school for the past thirty years since she used to teach me as well so she has no trouble recognizing me. It's sort of a disadvantage as to how good she is with names though because it means that wherever you are, if you're in her eyesight, even all the way across the street ahead, she'll call your name extremely loudly giving you no option but to talk to her. She's not the worst person ever, but she can be quite intense, just like my family, and knows how to keep a conversation going on for over half an hour if you don't come up with an excuse quick enough.

"Ro's teacher, right?" Riley asks, looking up at me. I look down at her and nod before she gestures forward. I raise an eyebrow but then notice the wide smile plastered across Miss Brew's face. I shoot a sickly sweet smile back at her, not really wanting to talk much, but I know that'll be a long-shot.

"James!" she exclaims as if she had only just seen me and wasn't practically staring at me already. "How're you doing?"

"Good, I'm good," I repeat for no deliberate reason. Riley crosses her arms over the front of her chest as a cold breeze rushes by and I pull her closer to me, tightening my grip of the arm around the back of her waist.

"Your girlfriend I presume?" she questions. Riley bites her lip.

"Fiancée actually," I correct her. Somehow the smile on her face grows even wider in fascination by this fact.

"Oh my lord! God, you kids grow fast! What's your name honey-bun?"

"Riley," she tells her. 

"That's a beautiful name. You're a lucky one, James," Miss Brew tells me as if I didn't already know that. 

It's like so many people expect me to have failed school or dropped out or something along those lines and it's a bit discouraging, especially when they know I had dyslexia. It's something my mother has said to almost every person I or she meets. She doesn't realise that it's not nice for people to know. She doesn't realise that it kind of hurts me when people say 'you've come a long way' or 'I can't believe that' or 'wow, you're lucky!'. 

It's not that I'm not lucky if they're referring to Riley but if they're referring to my job or to school or getting higher grades than I used to, it kind of feels like I'm being judged instead of praised. I'd feel a lot more successful if I got comments such as 'I'm so proud of you' and 'that's amazing! Well done' or 'I told you, you could do it'. But it seems like the only person who ever says those things to me is Riley. She's the only person who doesn't act shocked or surprised, she's always just meaningful and genuine and really is proud of me. 

Other people just look at my past and think of how I've tended to struggle with things, thinking I'm just a sucker at all subjects when I'm not. I may not be good at the usual Literacy, Numeracy, Chemistry, Biology or Physics, but I am good at Spanish, Psychology, Business, Media and Social Studies. Everyone just seems to look past them though. Everyone, but Riley, and that's how I know she's real.

As I pull out of my thoughts, I come to the realization that my arm had dropped down by my side, and as I look around to see why, I view Rose running up to Riley and engulfing her in a large hug to which she picks her up and carries her around, making me smile. I love how well Riley gets on with all of my siblings. They probably love her even more than they love me. She's unlike any of the girlfriends I've ever had but I guess that is the reason why I'm marrying her to be fair.