Teach Me About Love

Chapter 15 : Vandalism Victim

Once Monday came around Melody was excited for Stella to talk to her again. She would never admit out loud that she has favorites in her class but Stella was one of them. Of course she had filled Chris in on the little heart to heart the two of them had, had. He was just as relieved as Melody was knowing things would be better now that Stella liked Melody again.

It was a new day as Melody stood outside her classroom greeting her kids as they walked into the room. Melody's eyes had just happened to shift over to the glass doors leading outside to find Brenda and some of the other moms all huddled together. They were talking to the principal, and based on their body language it wasn't anything good. Melody wasn't an idiot, she knew what they were all trying to do. As much as this bothered her she listened to the words said to her by the principal that day "As long as you do your job you will be fine." 

So, with that Melody took a deep breath choosing to ignore the women and turned to make her way back inside her classroom. As soon as she saw the smiling faces of her students Melody instantly felt her mood change. Noticing Stella smiling the biggest to which Melody just shot her a little wink before getting on with the lesson for the day.

                                                                                                ***

Once the school day was over, Melody had stayed late that day to finish up some lesson plans for the following week. So by the time she left that day, all the kids had been long gone and it was a quarter to six. Making her way out of the building her car was the only one still in the parking lot. Melody let out a tired sigh, already looking forward to taking off these heels and soaking her feet as soon as she got home. Chris had mentioned stopping by that night and promising to cook dinner for her. He had mentioned he'd been practicing and wanted to show off what he had learned. It was honestly the most precious thing ever.

However, just as Melody had come face to face with the driver side of her car she couldn't help but drop her purse to the ground out of shock. Written across the side in white spray paint were the words "Shield Slut".

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Melody screamed in anger.

Fucking Brenda.

It had to of been her. 

Melody tried to hold back the hot tears that were threatening to escape. They were not sad tears, they were angry tears. As she reached down to pick up her purse from the ground she reached inside to dig out her phone. Already knowing who she was going to call, she clicked on the name in her contacts.

"Hey baby! Are you home yet? Just wait until I show you how good of a cook I am now!" His voice spoke on the other end, and continued to ramble on about the recipe he had found.

Melody stood there, just letting him talk until she couldn't help it anymore. A quiet sob escaped her lips and Chris immediately stopped talking "Baby?" His voice now soft and concerned.

"Can you come by the school and pick me up?" She let out a soft yet pleading tone.

"I'm on my way, what's going on?" He asked.

"You'll see when you get here." Was all she could say.

                                                                                             ***

Chris stood there, hands on his hips, as he stared at the car. He had arrived about five minutes ago and just stood there. He hadn't said a word since he saw it, he was fuming and did not care at all about hiding it.

Melody sat on the edge of the median in front of the row of parking spots. Her hands in her lap with her legs crossed over since she was wearing a skirt "Chris, I know you are mad. Believe me I am too, I just want to go home and I can't be seen driving that." 

Chris let out a soft sigh, realizing that he wasn't making this any better for her. He finally turned to look over at her with sad eyes "Do you know who did this?" 

Melody simply nodded as a grimaced look took over her face "I have an idea yeah. Listen, I called a tow truck after I called you. He should be here soon to take my car to the mechanic. A friend runs the shop, I trust him and he can get that crude off of my car." 

Chris simply nodded in response and before he could say anything the bright lights of a tow truck came into view. Melody outstretched her arms so that Chris would help her up, which he did happily. While she dusted the dirt off of her backside she saw the man hop out of the truck. "Tom!" She smiled when she saw him "Since when do you drive the tow truck?" 

The man returned the smile before reaching over to give her a big hug. "Since I heard it was you that needed it. I was worried!"

Chris stood off to the side, as he awkwardly took notice of the guy he did not know getting chummy with his girl.

Melody pulled away from the hug, before turning back to Chris "Babe this it Tom, he's the one that owns the shop. He went to school with my brother, they grew up together." 

Tom smiled at Chris as he reached his hand out "Nice to meet you! I'm a big fan!" 

Chris smiled back politely as he shook the man's hand, still feeling uneasy "Thank you."

Melody noticed of course and just smiled "Yeah he's like another brother to me. Hey Tom how's Melissa and the twins doing by the way?" She asked while looking over at Chris with a smirk.

Chris felt his whole body relax as he looked at Tom's left hand to notice a gold wedding band on the ring finger. When he made eye contact with Melody he couldn't help but blush in embarrassment. 

"Oh they are great thanks for asking! Melissa is amazing which is nothing new. Austin just started little league and Allie is doing gymnastics so it's been crazy busy. Anyways enough talk about me." He said with a wave of his hand, before looking over at the car. 

Once he got a closer look at it Tom sucked some air in between his teeth "Damn." 

Melody let out a exhausted sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair "I know. Can you fix it?" 

Tom smiled over at her with a determined look on his face "Consider it done, all it needs is a new paint job to cover that up." 

"Thanks Tom." Melody said with a smile.

"Go on home, I'll handle this. Just leave your keys with me and I will call you when it's ready to be picked up." He said already working on it.

Melody nodded as he handed the keys over, before saying goodnight to Tom.

"It was nice meeting you." Chris said to Tom as he opened the door for Melody to get in his car. 

Tom just said "Right back at ya Cap!" 

Melody and Chris both laughed before getting in go home for the night.

                                                                                                ***

"Don't worry about work, I will be your personal chauffeur until your car gets fixed. " Chris said with a smile.

Melody didn't hear him though, her thoughts were racing as she thought about her car. 

"Turn left." She said.

Chris was confused since that was the opposite way of her place, however he did what she asked.

Melody continued to give out instructions until they were stopped in front of a simple two story house with a white picket fence wrapped around it. 

"Where are we?" Chris asked.

In the beginning of the school year little Billy had gotten the flu. So, being the kind of teacher Melody was she didn't want him to fall behind on his schoolwork. She had come here with the week's assignments  to give to his mother to make sure he completed them.

This time Melody wasn't here for Billy.

This time Brenda was her objective.