Assisting Victoria

Part Ten

            I spent more than the night at Lauren’s. Actually, I stayed the whole weekend and didn’t leave until Monday morning when we both had to go to school. We talked a lot about Tori and Heather and whether or not I wanted to believe that there was something going on between the two of them.

            “You do realize she used to be married to a man, right?” I asked.

            Lauren laughed.

            “Yeah, used to be.”

            I rolled my eyes.

            “AND, she’s always making comments about men.”

            “It’s a cover up. It has to be. Have you not been paying attention for the past seven years? Everybody and their parents think that Ms. William’s is into women.”

            “That’s just a rumor.”

            Lauren looked at me and all she could do was sigh. After that we got in her car and she drove me to school, in silence.

            I always got the feeling that she got sick of my negativity. She’d never outright say it to my face, but I could sense it. I could sense a lot of things, like when people were upset and they didn’t want anyone to know. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to change. I thought Lauren was only going to get my hopes up for nothing, and then I’d be devastated in the end. I couldn’t let that happen. My own personal motto: Expect the worst all the time and you can’t be disappointed. I’m not sure how well that was working, but it seemed good enough to me.

            We arrived at school a little early. That wasn’t something I was used to, and I had nothing to do. Lauren had to go talk to one of her teachers though, so she left me standing in the doorway as she ran off to the meeting. I decided to walk around.

            I really should have gotten to school early all the time. It was nice having the halls considerably emptier and quiet. I had more time to think, and I didn’t have to worry about anyone shoving me into a locker, or dumping food down my back.

            As I was walking I wondered for a moment if Tori knew that I found that key and note in her pocket. Maybe that had something to do with why she seemed like she was hiding something. Today I decided, I was going to have to be a little more daring. There was something I really wanted to know and I wasn’t going to stop until I found out.

            During third hour that day I waited for Tori as usual. I had to play a part for once though, so I happened to be just standing up to play it as she walked in the door. As the song began I wasn’t even paying attention and realized that I missed my first crash cymbal hit, which of course, was very crucial to the beginning of the song. Mr. Baron gave me a look and told us all to start over.

            When we were done with the song, I set down the cymbals and walked into Tori’s office where she was sitting at her computer organizing something. She looked up at me when she realized I was standing in the door way.