The Way We Get By

Call Me Mark

Picture of Mark played by Nick Bateman.

***

I was lost. Completely and utterly lost.

Technically it wasn't my fault since I am new here and this school was slightly huge. It was three stories high of hell. I had English in my first lesson and prayed that the teacher was a kind soul and not a death eater. Otherwise, I was dead. 

Eventually, I found the class, which was on the other side of the school, and knocked. 

"Come in!" said the muffled, male voice on the other side of the door. 

As I opened it, I was met with blue eyes and a dashing face. 

Could God have given me a sexy teacher?

Biting my lip, I shut the door behind me and spun around to face Mr Charming. His graceful featured would surely not leave my mind for days to come. 

"I'm sorry I'm late, Sir, but I'm new and I got lost and I was on the other side of the school, so could you imagine?" 

Did I mention that I ramble in the face of a hot guy?

"Please, call me Mark," said Mark with a slight smile, "I understand that you are new, so I will forgive your tardiness for today, but only for today."

Its fitting for and English teacher to have an English accent. Sigh. 

"I promise it won't happen again," I said quietly.

"It's alright. Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself to your classmates?"

"Sure," I said, then turned to the rest of the silent class, "uh, I'm Isabelle, but you can call me Is, and I'm, uh, from Boston."

The class remained quiet. Meanwhile, I wanted to shrivel up in a hole and die. 

Mark cleared his throat and said, "Isabelle, you can take a seat now."

"Thank you, Sir." 

"Mark," 

"Right, sorry."

Sighing, I again made my way to the back of the class and took a seat. All I wanted to do was die of embarrassment because of my horrifying introduction. And Mark whatever his last name was, was clearly embarrassed  because he thought I would give more of and intro other than, "Hi you can call me Is and I'm from Boston."

What the hell was that?

"You sure know what you're doing."

I looked up and found a girl with hair as dark as night looking at me. 

"Yeah, because Call Me Mark sprung an introduction on me when I was not ready," I told her.

"Its only high school, don't let it get to you. There really wasn't anything embarrassing about that though. I've seen worse,"

"Oh yeah, like?" 

"Me." and she left it at that. 

We both turned back to Call Me Mark who was listing the novels we were to read this year, some of which included Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet as well as Macbeth.

Finally, the bell rang and everybody ushered towards the door. I was almost there when I heard Call Me Mark call my name. 

I turned around, I was so close to leaving but he had to call me back.

"Isabelle. Glad I caught you before you left," Mark said. 

"Yeah. Did you want something?" It came out a bit rude and immediately I apologized.

"Its fine. I understand you want to get to your next class before the bell rings. I just wanted to say that I hope you can cope with, uh, your family problems and if you need anybody to talk to, anybody at all, you can talk to me. I'm a great listener."

Mark seemed about 23 years old, and really hot with a slight stubble and glasses. This teacher would be the death of me.

I realized he was waiting for a reply and said, "Yup, definitely. I can count on you." 

With that, I rushed out of the classroom and into the bustling hallway. Did Call Me Mark know about my parents divorce? 

Well, I sure hope not, otherwise if so, the rest of the faculty obviously knows. 

I made it to AP Maths just as the bell rang, and as usual, made my way to the back of the class and took a seat. 

Luckily for me, the seat next to me was empty, so there would be no distractions in Math. 

But, within ten minutes into the lesson, the classroom door opened, and in walked the prick who nearly killed me in the morning. 

"Vince, you're late!" said Mrs Grundy.

Mrs Grundy was an a old woman who looked to be 40, with no ring on her finger, and probably lived with cats for company. 

"Sorry, I got caught up," said Vince in a laid back tone with a hint of humor.

Prick.

"Detention this afternoon, and don't you dare not show up or I'm calling your parents this time!" 

This time...

Vince had trouble oozing out of him. With a name like Vince, I was not going anywhere near him.

"Take a seat," said Mrs Grundy.

"Sure thing, ma'am." 

With a salute, he eyed the class, but when his eyes stopped on the very empty seat next to mine, my soul left my body. 

Oh shit. 

***

A/N: I hope you're enjoying this story so far. I know I am! Sorry if it is short.

Vote and comment, please. It makes me a very, very happy person to know people actually read my stuff.

Lots of love, 
Saiyuri