By Her Side

Chapter 33: Stop With The Questions

~ Claire's POV ~

I stood outside the door as I watched the students pass by. I noticed Amelia walk in.

"Morning Amelia." I said.

She looked at me and nodded. When the bell rang, I walked in the class to see everyone in their seats. I took role and began the period.

"Alright, since the English AP exam is over, we will be starting a project. It's called the 'Modern Fiction Project'. Everyone will pick a modern fiction book, and make sure it is approved by me before we begin. You guys can go on your phones and search some right now. I will be playing the movie, The Great Gatsby on the projector. I will be checking these books starting on Monday." I said as I began setting up the film, while the class chatted.

After I began the movie, I walked back to my desk and began to look at papers and editing the rubric for the project. Looking up at the class once in a while, Amelia looked very quiet and just watched the movie. Her expression looks upsetting for some reason.

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When sixth period came, I'm officially worried. She looked down, she usually greets me in the morning, smiling and all. She normally comes in for lunch. Yesterday and today was similar. Like... she's ignoring me. Did I do something wrong? Maybe I can talk to her during this period since she is my aide.

Speaking of her, she walked in right on time. She had a phone in her hand, her music on loud. She looked at me and nodded and sat down at the desk.

"Anything you'd like me to do?" She asked.

"Umm... Can you grade these quizzes? The key is right there in red. The answer has to be exact. If not, then mark it as incorrect. When you finish, place the number they got right out of the total."

"Okay," she said as she sat at the desk and began grading. Half-an-hour passed by and she stood up, walking over to my desk and placed it on, "Done." But before I could speak, she sat down at her desk again, looking through her phone.

She looked very focused on her things these past two days. We have fifteen minutes left of class, I decided to take this advantage to speak.

"Amelia..." She didn't say anything and just looked up at me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She said calmly, thought it was too immediate of an answer.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She said.

"Because you don't look like it."

She slammed her hand on the desk and adjusted her body a bit and sighed, "I'm fine."

I sat there and studied her. I feel her notice me looking at her and continued to shift herself uncomfortably.

"Can you stop looking at me?" She muttered, a little forcefully.

"Amelia... You're not alright."

"And how the hell do you know that?" She asked, raising her voice a bit.

"You've been acting like it for two days already."

"I'm just going through a bad patch." She said.

I looked at her a bit more, we stared head on until I just let out a long sigh and accepted it, she needed space, "Alright." I said as I raised my hands, then went back to work. This makes me even more worried, she's being supremely cold. I'll just leave it until she's ready to talk about it.

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~ Amelia's POV ~

I'm stressed and feel like complete shit. Why does she have to ask so many questions? I sat in seventh period doing the lesson that was given to us. I finished about ten minutes before the bell rang. I sat there and ran my hand through my hair. How am I doing this? I can't tell Claire, nor can I tell anyone else. How can I avoid her because I have her for two periods? And she practically saw right through me. Acting cold is killing me. The bell rang and I slowly grabbed my stuff. Exiting the classroom and found myself walking to Claire's. I stopped myself. Turning around and walking the other way to the exit. I found a bench away from the parking lot to sit down. I stared at the softball field and studied how I could do this. I can't ignore her completely. Or maybe, I just have to treat her as a teacher for now on... It's not what I want but I have to.