Crayons

Chapter 7

I feel the air deflate from my lungs, leaving me breathless. Wow. Diana turns to me again, a playful grin on her lips, "So what's the dish there?"

I look at her, taken aback. "What are you talking about?" I squeak out.

Diana rolls her eyes, nudging me with her shoulder, "Mr. Hot Student Teacher came over here to defend the 'beautiful young lady.' He was totally making googly eyes at you." I shake my head, my hair swaying side to side with the motion.

"You're delusional Diana." I try to force a laugh out of my mouth, but my throat swallows it up, not letting me get it out, "One, he's not interested. Two, he's like, so older than me. And three, I'm not interested in that."

Diana throws her head back to laugh, "Yeah right!" she exclaims. "First off, he was totally interested, and you're blind if you deny it. Second, he's what? Maybe twenty-four years old? That's completely reasonable. And lastly, you so are!" She giggles some more, occasionally looking back to where Mr. Black had left from. I'm about to say something else when she turns to me, her face serious.

"Wait, he's the student teacher for Mrs. Turner, right?" I nod slowly. "Holy shit! You two will have not only two class periods together, but a whole free hour, just you two!" I open my mouth, but Diana continues, "Well, aside from Mrs. Turner."

"Mr. Black," she says slowly, pursing her lips. She cocks her head to the side, her eyes gleaming, "Didn't you say a lot of Crayons have colors as their last name?" I nod, biting my lip slightly as I watch her. Diana's face turns to shock, then to amusement, "Willow is totally going to get some!"

The rest of the lunch hour goes by quickly, filled with Diana trying anything to keep my mind off my bloody hands and me pondering over if I should tell her about Zach. But before I can say anything, the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch and to get to our fifth hour classes. Before I head off to class, Diana wishes me good luck and winks, continued by giggles and her running off to her class. I gather my books and head to Mrs. Turner's classroom.

Once I make it to the hall Mrs. Turner is in, I make sure to go to the classroom next to her history room. The two rooms are adjoined by a door inside the classrooms, and Mrs. Turner has to use both rooms, one for history with individual desks, while her chemistry room has lab tables and equipment.

I sit in my usual spot at the back lab table, watching as everyone else fills up their spots, mingling with their lab partners. Since the class has an odd number of students, plus no one likes me, I sit alone at my table.

Mr. Black isn't in here.

I hear a sudden loud fit of laughter and glance up, finding Zach walking through the door. I was so excited to see the student teacher I forgot that Zach and I share this class. Zach looks at me, holding my gaze. He sets his stuff down on his table, the one across from mine, then makes his way to me.

"Hey," he starts. I look down at my books, not wanting to meet his stare. My eyes probably still hold proof of my tears. "Willow, please, I want to talk to you." I briskly shake my head, "Look, Zandria was being terrible, I know, and I'm sorry about her." He takes in a sharp breath, "Fine. Look, just call me or something if you need anything." At that he plops a scrap of paper on my desk with numbers scribbled across. His handwriting reminds me of something. The note from when I got back to first period. The one in my back pocket.

The bell rings and he goes back to his seat, laughing with his friends like nothing happened. At the same time, Mrs. Turner walks in, followed by our student teacher.

"Students, in case any of you don't know this already, this is Mr. Black, our new student teacher. He'll be here the rest of the year." Mr. Black smiles at the class, some girls giggle. "Treat him well so he'll want to come back next year. Any questions for Mr. Black before we begin?" Only a few hands raise, and for a few minutes he answers some questions, most of which were already asked during history. Afterwards, Mrs. Turner turns to the class, "Now, everyone work with your partner and get yourselves ready for the lab today. Mr. Black will be passing out your papers."