To say that Dan was struggling was an understatement. He was actually doing pretty okay for the first week but when Phil started to notice, he became more persistent into talking and pursuing Dan.
Dan always had to hide in his house at the last second before he had to run out and get on the bus. And he would have to ignore Phil's prying. "Hey Dan, Dan." in class.
He was officially about to lose his marbles. (haha). Phil would not stop whispering to him in class and he sounded genuinely concerned when Dan didn't answer back. It was breaking him to see Phil confused, he just hoped Stephanie wouldn't keep his locket for much longer.
So, after class that morning, Dan decided to go ask Mrs. Simmons from her perspective but use fake names.
"Can I talk to you?" Dan asks awkwardly as he notices Phil was the last to walk out that door.
Mrs. Simmons looks up from her papers and her gaze flicks ever so slightly to Phil's retreating figure before they meet Dan's eyes. "Of course! I have a free period so talk as long as you'd like and I'll write you a pass."
"Thanks." Dan fidgets with his fingers as he tries to find where to start. "It's not really a school related question.."
She laughs, "Oh Dan, whatever it is, I will gladly help you,"
He smiles, "Thanks."
She waits for him to talk and Dan takes a deep breath.
"So there's this boy named... let's call him Paul, and Paul has a really rude girlfriend named Rachel who wants to keep Paul and his friend David apart because she's afraid that David will turn Paul gay, because he's gay himself, so to make sure that David stays away, she took something of his." He says this all in one breath and looks at Mrs. Simmons expectantly.
Her eyes search Dan's for a moment before answering. "I can see how Phil looks at you during class, how he wants to talk to you,"
Dan's head falls. "Fake names weren't necessary then?"
"I'm afraid not," she laughs, "but Dan, if it makes you feel better, I'm bisexual myself, and there has been many times I would be talking to a girl and my husband would get mad at me for it, thinking that I was trying to turn them lesbian or something."
"R-really? You didn't have to tell me that if it was a secret-"
"Nonsense," she moves her long brown curls out her eyes "I feel like I can trust you enough, what I'm saying is, you know yourself Dan, sometimes you just want a friend, not a lover. I have to remind my husband sometimes that he is the one for me, not any one else."
She continues with, "You should tell Phil what his girlfriend said, and maybe both of you can figure out how to get whatever she took back safely."
Dan was overjoyed that he had found a way to solve all of this. "Thank you so much Mrs. Simmons."
"You can call me Samantha when we're alone." She smiles and hands Dan his pass. "Tell me how it goes okay?"
"Of course I will!" Dan says brightly as he walks towards the door. "bye!"
"Bye Dan."
He walks out with a bright smile on his face to his next class that he also shared with Phil, hopefully things would go right and get could get his locket back.
did you know: my teacher at school is named Samantha Simmons so i made her a character in the book because she's so freaking nice and i swear she's bisexual even though she has a husband 🤣
~alivia
