K.I.S.S.I.N.G

Five

I wake up, still on the floor. Adam's back at his desk, typing away and writing stuff in a big clipboard. "Hey." He says when he notices me sitting up. "Feeling better?"
I nod, before standing up. I look around for a while, noticing thing I hadn't before. There's a bookcase next to the door, and draped behind it is a pride flag, the colours only popping out to me now. I sit back down in my chair.
"Scott, I have some news." Adam says, switching off the computer. "I have been speaking with some of your teachers and we have all agreed that it's best for you if you still get a chance to socialise with people your own age."
"So I get to go out for Lunch?" I ask, hoping he says yes.
"No, you and I will both attend French with the same class you had before you were removed from rotation." He explains. Crushing the part of me that was excited.
"Why do you come?" I ask, already knowing what the answer will be.
"I will be there so if anything begins to go wrong with your behaviour, I can remove you before the rest of the class is disrupted."
"I'll be good." I say, trying to talk him out of coming with me.
"I hope so." Adam stands up and unlocks the door.
"Where are you going?" I ask, standing up as well.
"French." He says, tilting his head to the side, looking slightly confused.
"Already, that's my last class."
"You slept for a long time, kid" he says. He waits for me to leave the room, then he puts his hand on my shoulder again to stop me from running away.
The corridor is empty since there are about three minutes left of the class. When we arrive, we wait outside for the class before us to finish.
"Do you feel safe at home?" Adam asks me while we wait.
"Not ever." I reply quietly.
"Why?" Adam moves around so he can face me and he stares right into my eyes, putting me in a slight trance again with the beauty of them.
"Because, well," I stutter, not really knowing what to say. "He hits me when he's drunk. And he's only ever Sober when he's run out of drink, and then he asks me to buy him more, so I try to, and they don't sell it to me. Then the police get involved and he's called to the station and then when we get home he hits me for getting in trouble. I can't get away from it."
Adam puts his hand on my shoulder. "I want to see the marks when we get back to my office." He whispers. He says something else but it's covered by the sound of the bell and the sound of every student in the school bursting out of their classroom door and moving to their last class of the day.
Lewis shows up by the door and comes over to me. "You left me, man, do you know how lonely I've been?"
"Sorry." I mumble to him. Not mentioning the fact that I've almost certainly been lonelier.
My French teacher, Mr Waddle, comes out, inviting the class in. I begin to walk toward my seat, right next to Lewis, but Adam calls me forward. Mr Harris and Mr Waddle have a discussion about how the door needs to be locked and how I could be forced to leave the classroom at any time. I roll my eyes at all the rules before going back over to my seat next to Lewis at the back, but Adam calls me back over to him. The two of us end up sitting in the seats right at the front. The whole time I sit there wishing I could be next to Lewis and be joking around with him.
I sit for ages, and I can't do anything or I'll let Adam down, and he's only trying to help me. I begin to draw on the table, it's only circles, nothing rude. I doodle for ages before Adam catches me. He grabs my wrist and pulls the pencil out of my hand. Then he takes my notepad and inspects the page that is clearly empty. He stands up and speaks to the teacher for a moment before giving me a stare that means 'get up now and follow me' and walking out the class.
When we get back to his office he just sits in his chair and sighs.
"What!" I say loudly. "I didn't do anything!"
"That's exactly why you were removed!" He yells. "You can't just sit in a classroom for an hour to have a rest!"
I drop to my seat. I don't like shouting. It makes me feel threatened and unsafe, like home. Mr Harris can tell and he comes over to me, softly apologising for upsetting me.
"Can I see the marks?" He asks quietly. I bite my bottom lip, not wanting to lift my shirt. He notices my doubt, the turns around and lifts the back of his own. I can see scars from where fingernails dug into his skin, and long strips where a belt had been hit over and over. He lowers his top and turns back to me. "Your turn," he smiles softly. My trembling hands move to my shirt and I lift it as high as I can. Most of the marks are on my front. Adam reaches out and gently touches my rib with one hand. Then he turns to the door.
"Where are you going?" I ask him, taking a few steps towards him.
"We're going to the hospital, you have at least 3 broken ribs." He says walking out towards the main entrance to the school.
"What if I don't want to come?"
"Then I'll call an ambulance to come here."
I sigh, knowing I don't really have a choice. I follow Adam out towards his car and climb in. He gets in the other side and drives off towards a hospital.