RELIANCE [Alice + Oc + Jasper]

CHAPTER EIGHT

RELIANCE

CHAPTER EIGHT:

....

                Mr. Berty's elated expression at noting her appearance had indeed brightened her interior dilemma into one of peace and returning joy for the elder man as he shuffled to her with his hands coming out to gentle pull her into a warm hug. "Miss Malarky, as I live and breathe," his words are uttered with kindness. "It does this old heart of mine well to see such a bright face return to my classroom once again! Come, come, take a seat. We're just about to begin to dive into 'As I Lay Dying' by the talented William Faulkner, for the last time!

"It's good to be back," she says after claiming the back desk to the far left.

Behind her, a silent and ever-watchful Jasper glides fluidly past the whispering students around them and heads to the chair opposite of her own, closest to the window. He discreetly brushes his hand and spindly fingers alongst the curve of her back, easing her strained muscles with a gentle caress that has a soft exhale leaving her.

She is pulled away from the sensation of his touch and back to the grinning man ahead of them. The wide smile on his face only reminds her for why he was her favorite teacher. Both have the same joy for all kinds of books and their stories.

So, with that said, Lorraine gestures to the book laying prone on the stack of papers before them. "Are we to leave Senior year having completed this story or finishing it on our own?"

"Why I think I'll leave that up to you all. But I will say, Miss Malarky. Your love of books has indeed been missed," his statement is full of. "Though I can only imagine the heckling you gave the nurses and your family for a good story to read, while resting."

"You'd imagine correctly."

The man gave a hearty laugh as he stalks to the front of the room with his wrinkled hands clapping together to grab the murmuring attention of the rest of his students. His lean form is clothed in a set of faded jeans that hang around his narrow waist with a belt, completed with a white button up hidden beneath a brown and tan striped vest. The outfit seemed to match his overall bookworm getup. It warmed his pale skin tone and softened the wrinkles adorning his face, which hid behind windswept grey strands of hair.

His laugh is contagious enough to truly dissolve the grim pain that hung above her head like a wreath at someone's funeral, covering the sorrow and unbridled fear that wiggled incessantly within her chest. The panic, though, would always linger. Its coiling length sinching tightly alongside her lungs and snaking around her very heart, which beat strongly once more behind it's iron walled cage.

With all the bitterness and anger swirling inside her, Lorraine was distantly impressed by her will to strive onwards with an actual smile peeling back at her chapped lips.

A soft tap and soothing sensation on her elbow had thawing glacial orbs peering at Jasper.

The barest of nods was what reeled in the warring emotions, completely.

"Alright then!"

Mr. Berty's thunderous voice echoes with a bright twinkle of something in his hazel irises. Beaming at Lorraine, momentarily, he directed his attention to the girl before fixing it on the book he now held up in the air for the others to see.

"Now that we have gained back a missed student. Let's begin our wonderful and vivacious journey into the dramatizing story that bespeaks many hearts!"

Around the two there are mixed emotions and voices, minor groans of complaint and cheering as the student slumped back against their seats or leaned forward with eagerness. Their overall attitude was waved away by the warm man with a clap of his hands.