Painted Smiles [completed]

Recollection 2

Tuesday, February 16

We had Monday off school. The extra day of relaxation helped ail my sleep schedule and eating habits, but I felt lonely and empty. Being stuck at home, the one place I feel constantly anxious, brought my spirits down. Longing the communication between my teachers and friends, I was so excited to be back at school.

The day started off beautifully. Because I wrote Triple D and another teacher a fan fiction, and sent it to them, I obviously had to visit both of them.

The other teacher, Mr. Shepard, was ironically a science teacher. He always got to school early and left right after the last bell. He loved puns and the dark, and his kids were the cutest. Not only was he around the same height as Triple D, which is impressive, but he also looked fairly decent. Because I get attracted to a lot of teachers, as we all know, I'm not ashamed to say that he was a fairly handsome man.

I barged into his room. He immediately swiveled around on his chair to face me. Once he saw me, he immediately began laughing. "Claire! I've been wanting to see you! You sent me some fancy writing."

I blushed heavily. I knew he read the fan fiction I emailed to him because Triple D texted me about it, but I didn't think he'd have such a positive reaction to it. "Oh, thanks! You liked it?" Refraining from giggling was hard.

He nodded, still trying to contain his laughter. "I read it at midnight. When I got to school yesterday, D and I talked about it for like five minutes! We both thought it was hilarious."

The thought made me smile.

Later that same day, I went to go visit the woman herself. "Mom?" I asked, peeking my head through the door. After connections, I had the perfect route to Triple D's room. I was so thankful that I could stop by to say hello.

The woman looked up from her computer and smiled when she saw me. She knew what I came to talk about, and she prepared for it. "Oh boy..."

"He said he liked the story! Isn't that great news? I feel like I'm moving the ship along!"

She laughed and shook her head. No part of her showed any weakness towards that, so I eventually gave up.

After school, when all the students had scurried off to the buses, I stayed after school with Sandy. I helped her sort all sorts of things into piles and groups. She got sick, so I let her sit and do some simple grading while I did the physical work.

I deeply wanted to talk to her about Kathleen, my experience with depression, and her life, but I didn't know how to verbalize the thoughts. I kept silent, and I will forever wish I said something.

Friday, February 19

The school day itself eased by painfully slowly. Seating changes caused most of my distress. I sat next to none of my friends in French anymore, and it actually scared me. I learned so well next to my previous friends, but I suppose the teacher had enough of our shenanigans.

The day yawned with me in science. What was supposed to be a fun, creative project turned into a gloomy watch over the idiocy I sat next to. Each table group had to make a 'poster' about a fake experiment, and the errors showed up immediately. One of the guys at my table decided to put all his effort into the title font while the other wrote the stupid hypothesis in the wrong format! Obviously, I kept taciturn as they messed up the easiest part of the term so far. The whole class period dedicated itself to the poster, and I had to witness a tragic downfall right before my eyes. I hoped that my science teacher wouldn't take it personally.

French, as mentioned before, ended terribly. The teacher, a man that beams with anger, placed me next to a sophomore reject. I spent the first few weeks of the term making friends and actually learning new things, but he had to flip things around. Honestly, seating can be disgusting. I also took a test that hour, but it wouldn't surprise me if my bad mood got me a bad grade!