Grey

7.

"Daniel just talk to me please." Greyson says running after me. He's fast and I know that he'd catch me sooner or later but the late bell for sixth period rings and I ran into the safety of my class.

"Mr. Grey is there something I can help you with?" My English teacher Mrs. Connell asks him as she walks over to close the door.

"No." He says standing there. I can feel his eyes on me but I refuse to meet them.

"Then you should get to class. You're late." She says shutting the door and starting class. I tune her out too busy worrying about how I was going to stay away from Greyson. There was absolutely no way I would be able to avoid him forever especially when I have to see him at service today.

Suddenly I had a plan.

The end of the day came fast and before I knew it I was in Amanda's car being driven to Sunnyside Elementary School for service.

"Just talk to him Daniel. You can't run from your problems forever." Amanda says as I got out of the car.

"Watch me." I said. There was no way I could risk the wellbeing of my family just for my own happiness. That would be incredibly selfish of me.

I walk in and spot Chris sitting at the front desk and as soon as he catches sight of me he beams. Plan going into effect. I think to myself as I plaster on a fake smile and beam back at him.

"I'm so glad to see you." He says standing up from his position at the desk.

"Yeah well I'm required to come here once a week." I say laughing.

"Hmm true. But you could always stop by anytime if you want." Chris says winking at me.

I blush.

"Your partner is already in the room waiting for you."

I frown. Greyson has a habit of getting here early. My heart begins to beat faster as the realization of what I was about to do hit me. I gulped and walked into the room.

"SUPERHERO DAN!" Jake and the other kids screamed immediately as they ran up to hug me.

I smiled. These kids were really growing on me. I look up and see Greyson staring at me from one of the tables across the room.

I look away. "Does anyone have any homework that they need to get done?" I ask pretending to sound excited.

"I DO!" Several kids throw their hands in the air and jump up and down.

Suddenly Greyson gets up from the table and walks over to me.

"We need to talk."

I ignore him. "If you have homework I want you to sit at a table and get it done. If you need any help feel free to ask me or Greyson for help."

"Okay Superhero Dan!" They yell in unison. I can't help the smile that found its way on my face. Maybe going to college to become a teacher wasn't so bad of an idea after all.

Greyson then grabs a hold of my hand. "Daniel we need to talk. Now."

I snatch my hand back and Chris walks into the room just in time.

"Hey, I figured I'd come check and see how you guys were doing. I know handling a room full of hyperactive children has to be challenging.

"Everything is fine." Greyson grumbles glaring at Chris because from the moment he entered the room he hasn't taken his eyes off of me. He had that dehydrated look again.

"Daniel, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to grab a coffee with me after service?"

I hesitate. I planned on flirting with Chris to make Greyson angry so that he'd give up on me and continue to avoid me. He clearly didn't like Chris so maybe associating with the enemy would make him hate me but I didn't plan on actually going on a date with him.