Taking Chances

Chapter 35

            Tuesday morning break time and the staffroom at Brooksdale High was a hive of activity. Ryan busied himself catching up with all the teachers who covered for him yesterday while he was with Bec.

Through the room of teachers, Ryan caught sight of Donita and went over to her. "Hey, thanks for covering for me yesterday."

"It was no problem. Is everything okay?"

"Not really. Bec's ex-boyfriend showed up. He had some private investigator keeping tabs on her."

Donita's eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh my goodness! What happened?"

Ryan told Donita the quick version of events. When he finished, Donita said, "That guy should be locked away! Is Bec getting a restraining order?"

"I hope so. She was supposed to go to the police station today to find out more. Jerry is leading her through the process."

"Jerry? I know him. Well-built and big, eh? He's got a kind heart that one." She smiled and touched Ryan's forearm in a warm, friendly way.

The bell rang and the room emptied. Ryan picked up his bag and made his way to the next class, British Literature, which had now become his favourite class since Tyler had been moved to Lewis Jones' class. As he passed the toilet block, Ryan heard loud sobs come from the girl's toilet. He stopped and called out, "Hello? It's Mr. Anderson. Are you OK?"

The reply came through bursts of crying, "I'm OK. Go away."

It sounded like Sally, and Ryan was concerned. Sally was normally level-headed. He knew that teens rarely told an adult what was bothering them the first time, so he persisted, "Sally. Is that you? Why don't you come out and tell me what's bothering you."

"I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine. Is there anything I can help with?"

A cubicle door squeaked opened and slammed shut. Sally appeared at the entrance. Her eyes were swollen and the end of her nose was red.

"I look terrible," she said.

Ryan knew that it didn't help lying to teenagers either. "You don't look great. Walk with me to class and tell me what's happening."

Stragglers who cared about their classes ran past Ryan and Sally. Stragglers who didn't care about their classes meandered to class, chatting and laughing. A few students looked in Sally and Ryan's direction, but few paid much attention.

"Adam dumped me." Sally said it so quietly and quickly that Ryan wasn't sure he had heard it.

Ryan kept walking and Sally kept up with him. Ryan replied, "That's terrible. I'm so sorry. You two seemed like such a great couple."

A sob resurfaced and Sally tried to hold it back, but she was unsuccessful.

"I don't know what happened. I guess I should have seen it coming. Adam just - just. Like, he became distant or something."

"Did he say anything?"

"No, not really. Like, the weird thing is that he was spending more time alone, or with Tyler and his gang. He just became someone else. I don't know what I did wrong."

Ryan stopped walking and faced Sally. The classroom was only a few paces away. They were already late for class, but the students had work to go on with. Ryan always prepped the classroom when he had a break before class.

"Sally, teachers have noticed a change in Adam, too. I don't think you did anything wrong. People grow and change. But what's happening with Adam is troubling.

"Is there anything that could have triggered Adam's behaviour?"

Sally looked at Ryan imploringly. "Mr. Anderson, I just don't know. He's not active online much. He doesn't talk to me anymore. I just don't know." Sally cried again.

Ryan could see the rest of the day would be a right-off for Sally and there was no point sending her to class and suffering the embarrassment of stares and awkward questions from classmates. He told her to go down to the front office where students who were ill were sent. Delores was there and she could offer emotional support. After all, how many teachers went to her for unofficial counselling? As Sally walked towards the office, Ryan entered the class, but Adam was absent.