The Scholarship

Untitled Part 13

Damon argued with me for 20 minutes about whether or not I would walk to school. Eventually, Tony intervened and told me that I wasn't walking to school ever again, but he would help me with getting my license as soon as I felt that my leg and arm were able to handle doing things without the braces to support them. So Damon was happy, and I was satisfied that eventually he wouldn't have to drive me everywhere. I don't think I can spend longer than 10 minutes with him ever since that day at the hospital. It was too awkward for me. The car ride to school, I'm sure would have been awkward if it wasn't for the fact that I was too lost in my own thoughts to even realize if we were to  have gotten into some sort of accident. We got to school and I hobbled as fast as I could with my head down, scars still riddled my body, but Pepper wouldn't let me leave the house unless I was in some sort of t-shirt and shorts. Claiming that it was too hot and that my scars made me who I was today. In retrospect, it was a very heartfelt moment of her telling me I was a beautiful girl and that I was wonderful inside and out. But I really didn't want people to see the things my father had done to me. I lost, of course, so here I was trying to jog with a boot on so people couldn't see me or maybe wouldn't notice me. And it worked until I got into class. There were whispers around the room, granted I couldn't really hear any of them, I knew they were talking about me. They kept glancing over at me, and back to the person they were talking to. As Mr. Hawthorne walked into the room everyone finally shut up. He nodded in my direction and I nodded back. From what I was aware of the teachers knew of my situation and were also threatened by Tony's lawyer that they were not to participate in any gossip. I would have thought they would have known not to participate, but since they were in direct contact with Pepper and Damon he wanted to make sure no news of my recovery got leaked. 

        "You've been in the news enough to last you a  lifetime and 5 more. You don't need any publicity from here on out unless you're okay it." He said as we were in the lab working on one of his suits. I fully agreed, but I did mention that every time I went somewhere with him it was inevitable that I would be photographed. 

        "You're right kid. But none of your dirty laundry will be put out there. Nothing about who you're dating, or what you're doing with your life will be in the news ever again." By this point in the conversation, he was looking at me with a look I could only describe as pure commitment. His eyes held so much truth I almost got out of my wheelchair and hugged him.

"Okay, class. Please pull out your books and turn to page 378. We're going to talk about-"

"Can we talk about Andy?" A kid called out from the back of the class. Mr. Hawthorne's face hardened.

"No. Alec we can not. But you can pack up your things and make your way to the principal's office right now." He snapped and quickly wrote up a hall pass. Alec mumbled incoherent words and made his way to the front of the class. But that didn't stop him from glaring at me before he continued on his merry way like I had done something wrong. 

"If anyone else would like to make some sort of snide comment or a question about Andrea you may leave as well. This is a school and you are all here to learn, not to gossip.  I don't want to hear anything about Ms. Andrea in my classroom or outside of it. She should not be a topic of gossip due to a series of unfortunate events. Now back to page 378."

The first half of the day was absolutely horrendous. For once I was looking forward to lunch. At least if Damon was around  I knew no one would get away with saying anything. He was really protective of me. Though I was sure he heard about what happened this morning and would be angry. As I made my way through the lunch line for the first time in the 4 years I had been here I felt eyes on me. It wasn't silent, but no one was hiding the fact that I was, in fact the topic of the week even with Mr. Hawthorne's threat.  Damon waited for me to finish grabbing my food and led me outside where it was for the most part secluded. His friends we all sitting around a tree and laughing about something. I didn't belong there. They all looked so happy and carefree. I wasn't, I had too much baggage to feel happy and carefree. I sat down and looked towards the ground. For the first time in years, my hair was up in a ponytail at school. This morning Pepper helped me brush it into a high ponytail that I thought actually looked really good. The thought of it made me smile a little bit.