Assisting Victoria

Part Six

Time always worked in ways you didn’t want it to. No matter how bad I didn’t want the day to come to an end, it did, faster than it would have had it been any other day. I sighed as I shoved my books back into my back pack and slung it over my shoulder. I didn’t know if Tori would be here right away, but I walked all the way across the building to the band room anyway, hoping she would be.

I was surprised to find that no one at all was there. I knew that the last band class was the freshman class for 5th hour, but I didn’t expect it to be dark inside with the doors already locked. I stood there waiting and looking around.

Along the wall outside of the band room they had framed pictures of our school’s marching band. I should have been in them, but no one ever seemed to want to take pictures of me. Go figure. I then looked across the hall at the art work on the walls. We were right across the hall from the art room, and their teacher liked to put the students’ work out for everybody to see. I had to admit, some were pretty good. I would never have been able to draw or paint like that.  It just wasn’t my thing.

I looked at the clock on the wall which said that it was 2:50pm. I had only been there for five minutes and already I was beginning to get a little impatient. It wasn’t because of Tori either. That’s just the way I was. Always. I tried not to be so impatient, but I couldn’t help it. I didn’t like feeling like things were unresolved. I’d rather just get them done then and there, although, to be perfectly honest, I did not want my seeing Tori to be done and over with. That’s not at all what I meant.

I stuck my hand in the left pocket again just to make sure that the envelope containing the note and the key was still there. It was. I relaxed a little. A few minutes later though and I began to check to make sure there were no scratches or marks of any kind on it. That’s when Tori walked up.

“I see you’re taking very good care of my jacket,” she said as she unlocked the band room doors.

I smiled, a little embarrassed that she caught me checking it for scratches.

“Yeah… just… being careful I guess.”

“Well thank you. I appreciate it very much.”

She smiled and I took off the jacket and handed it to her.

            “Actually… thank you for letting me borrow it. That was very generous of you.”

            She walked into the room and into her old office, setting her stuff down on her desk after she opened the door.

            “You know, I was in a position very similar to yours when I was in middle school.”

            She sat down at her desk and opened up her laptop.

            “You were?” I asked, in disbelief.

“Yeah. Those weren’t exactly my greatest years. I was a tomboy, more on the rebellious side, and people just didn’t get me. There was one boy in particular who used to tease me every day telling me I looked like a boy. Probably because I also cut my hair very short. Terrible idea of mine I must add.”

She laughed a little at that end part.

“It’s hard to imagine anyone teasing you.” I said quietly.

“And why is that?”

The way she looked at me made me start to get all nervous again. I was almost about to say “because you’re so pretty,” but I figured I should say something else instead.

“You just... seem like you get along with everyone all the time.”

She did too. Tori was one of the friendliest teachers in our entire city and her students all loved her. It was hard to imagine someone not liking her. At least that meant what I said wasn’t a lie.

“Well I didn’t back then, and to tell you the truth,” she leaned in a little closer and I felt my heart start to race, “I still don’t today.”

She went back to working on her computer and I realized that all I had meant to do was return her jacket and leave. Now here we were, sitting and having a conversation.

“Oh.”

She sat staring at her screen for a moment and then turned to face me.

“Is there anything I can do to help you Kelsey? I’d really hate to see a student of mine going through that kind of bullying. I can talk to the prin….”

“No!” I hadn’t meant to sound like was yelling, or cut her off. “I’m sorry. I just… I’m fine.  My parents have already tried once anyway. He’s not usually like that.”

She sat staring at me and I didn’t know what to do. I felt suddenly very self-conscious.

“Well if you need someone to talk to… you know where to find me.”

“Thanks,” was all I could think to say.

After that I walked out and started to head home. I didn’t live very far, only two blocks away which meant I could walk. I liked to when the weather permitted it, because I desperately needed the work out. I may have been skinny, but boy was I out of shape. I also just liked how walking gave me time alone to think.

I used to drive my mom’s car, but she stopped letting me when I couldn’t pay for gas. Every once in a while I made money by cutting grass, or helping someone out around the house, but what I really needed was a real job. Then maybe I could get my own beat up little car and actually go other places on my own.

When I got home I went straight upstairs to my room and shut the door. My mom was home, but didn’t seem to notice I walked in, and my dad was at work. Typical day. I got on my computer and went straight to check to see if anyone messaged me. Not that anyone ever did. I saw that Tori updated her status about an hour ago though, stating how happy she was that her new office was almost complete.

Yes, I did add her as a friend on Facebook awhile back. My parents thought it was weird that she added students as friends, but what they didn’t see was that she only did that on her teacher profile. She made it so she could keep us updated on events at school and what we’d be working on next. I didn’t care if it wasn’t personal. At least I got to say that in a way… I was her friend.

When I didn’t find anything interesting I logged of and laid down in bed with a book. I never ended up reading much though, because I ended up falling asleep. Sadly, I did not dream about Tori. Instead I dreamt about Mitch and his friends chasing me down a hall and shoving me into a locker after they finally caught me. What I wouldn’t give to make that whole group pay for the way they treated me. Too bad I wasn’t the type to get revenge.