Static [Riley Mattews]

27 - English Teacher

Nobody at school knew what was happening at home.

Noah didn't even want anyone to know. Not even teachers.

Unfortunately, it got to the point where he couldn't hide it anymore.

Dean emailed his teachers letting them know what was happening. He told them that their grandfather, Frank, was progressively worsening.

He was fine when Dean moved back to New York, but shortly afterward, his health began to decline. 

Mr. Matthews stopped by the apartment after school to check in on the family.

"Why didn't you tell me all of this was happening?" Mr. Matthews asked the thirteen-year-old.

"It wasn't this bad before," Noah said. "Plus, no one needed to know."

"Not even your friends?" the teacher raised his eyebrows.

"They don't need to know," Noah said. "Not now."

Mr. Matthews didn't push Noah anymore. 

"Are you coming over for dinner?" Mr. Matthews asked.

"No."

***

At school, everyone took their seats in their English class and patiently waited for their English teacher to show up.

"Where's Garaboski?" Maya asked.

"Uh - oh," Lucas said.

"Did we do it?"

"Did we finally break up?" Farkle asked.

English was Noah's favorite class. He loved to read and write and everything that came with English class.

His teacher on the other hand... not so much.

Mr. Matthews entered the classroom with a small piece of paper in hand.

"You broke him!" the history teacher exclaimed.

The class, except for Noah, cheered.

"Quiet!" Mr. Matthews snapped.

Sure, Noah didn't like Mr. Garaboski, but that didn't mean he was that desperate to get rid of him.

Could he have done more to stop his classmates from doing what they did the previous day? Sure, he could've. In a way, he enabled it by putting minimal effort into stopping them.

"Mr. Garakboski retired yesterday," Mr. Matthews said.

The class cheered again.

"Quiet!" Mr. Matthews said. "The guy survives Vietnam and Mrs. Garakboski and he can't get past you."

"Sounds like an issue that Mr. Garaboski would take with himself," Noah said.

"Quiet!" Mr. Matthews snapped at Noah. "Now," he said calmly, "he left a letter here that expressed his feelings."

Mr. Matthews unfolded the paper he had in his hand.

"Dear you little - " Mr. Matthews began, but stopped.

Noah could only imagine what the old English teacher could've written.

His curiosity only peaked when Mr. Matthews said, "Okay, I can't read this."

He folded the paper up once again.

"He always talked about the good old days before nineteen eighty-five," Lucas said.

"What happened in nineteen eighty-five?" Riley asked.

"That was the year the New York Board of Education said you couldn't hit a kid with a ruler," Farkle said.