Assisting Victoria

Part Nineteen

I wanted to believe that whatever was going on with Tori was nothing. I wanted to believe that she really did have other things to work on. I also wanted to believe that whatever was going on would have been resolved the next day, but apparently that wasn’t going to be the case. Something… wasn’t right.

As long as I had known Tori, she was always coming to work with a smile and going the extra mile to help people out. It didn’t seem like she ever let anything bother her. If anything ever did, well then she was doing a really good job hiding it. I don’t even think she was trying though when I saw her, because she sat in her office the whole hour, never came out, and when I first saw her walk into the band room there was a look on her face I’d never seen there before. A look of pain.

I walked into her office after class was over. She didn’t look up at me this time, and I wondered if I should do something to get her attention.

“Um… Ms. Williams?”

I rarely ever called her that. Rarely. She finally turned around to look at me.

“Yes, Kelsey?” she asked quietly.

“I just thought I’d check today. You know… to see if I should come down after school or not.”

Tori leaned back in her chair, contemplating the idea. Apparently it wasn’t a simple yes or no question, because she sat like that for at least another few minutes.

“Yeah… yeah I guess so. We can… do… something. I’ll figure it out.”

“Oh… kay.”

She got up and started to put things in her bag, getting ready to leave. I felt bad. Something must have really been bothering her. I knew I couldn’t be nosy and bug her about it though, because she was my teacher and it would have seemed inappropriate. All I could do was walk out in silence, wondering what could have possibly happened.

At lunch I told Lauren about Tori’s strange behavior, not that she seemed focused. I think her mind was on Kevin most of the time.

“Maybe something happened with Heather,” she suggested.

“Like what?” I asked.

“I don’t know… they broke up?”

“They weren’t even together… that we know of.”

I picked at my lunch, not feeling hungry enough to actually eat it. Seeing Tori appear to be upset was starting to make me a little upset.

During 4th hour I did something I wasn’t expecting myself to do. I had just walked in the door when I saw that Mitch was already there waiting. I looked over at me and a devious smile spread across his face.

“Hey Kelsey!” he called. “How’s To….”

“Don’t even bother!” I practically yelled. “Seriously. I’m not in the mood for your crap today.”

He actually shut up. I almost took a moment to ask him why he listened, but that would have been stupid, so I didn’t. He did listen though, and that had caught me off guard. I had expected him to make a joke about how things must not have worked out with me and Tori. I stared at him for a short few seconds, but then went to sit in my desk as usual.

The whole hour I sat thinking of a way I could possibly cheer Tori up. Maybe if she saw me put in extra effort, or… maybe if… well, I could figure something out. I just needed to do it by the end of the day. I tuned out my teacher’s lecture and thought about all the possibilities.

When the end of the day finally came around I hurried down to the band room. Tori was there already again, waiting.

“So what are we doing today?” I asked.

“I um… I guess I still haven’t figured that out,” she admitted. “I’m sorry. I’ve been distracted is all. I kind of wanted to talk to you about something though.”

This last part made my heart start to race. Automatically I feared word had gotten out somehow. Maybe Mitch did mention something. Worse yet, maybe this is why she was upset. Maybe, just maybe, she was going to tell me that I needed to be done helping her out after school. I sighed, and braced myself for the worst possible outcome.

“Oh… okay… what is it?” I asked hesitantly, scared that if she said what I feared she’d say, I’d only embarrass myself by crying.

She didn’t say anything for a while and I was starting to get really nervous. I felt as though I was starting to sweat and began to feel just a little self-conscious. I prayed the whole time that she didn’t take notice to any of these things.

“Why don’t you want me to help you?”

“What?” I asked, even though I heard perfectly clear what she said.

I just didn’t believe it. It wasn’t what I expected.

“Well you came to me, for help and advice… and I know you said your parents tried once before, but… I don’t believe that our principal would have just ignored the issue and if he hadn’t, Mitch wouldn’t be a problem for you anymore. So… there has to be something else.”

“Well there isn’t.”

“Kelsey… I’m just concerned… he… he hasn’t been threatening you or anything, has he?”

My eyes widened in shock.

“Oh no! Not at all. I promise. It’s just… it’s more complicated than you think, but not really in a bad way… well… sort of. I can take care of it on my own. I haven’t been letting him get to me so much lately and it’s already been working.”

“Well I’m glad to hear that. I still think….”

“Really. It’s fine.”

She sat looking at me for a moment as if that would help her figure out whatever it was that I was trying to hide. Eventually she only sighed.

“Okay.”

“So is that all you wanted to ask?”

She nodded.

“Yeah that’s about it. You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.”

“It’s okay. I have nothing better do to.” I looked around the room. “Maybe we can clean this room, for Mr. Baron. I’m sure he’d appreciate it. I mean… it hardly even looks like the janitors ever do it.”

This made her smiled just a little bit.

“We don’t have to though. I mean… it’s not my room.”

“Yeah, but… I’d rather be doing something here than just sitting around waiting for my tutoring appointment.”

She looked around at the room. It wasn’t like we’d really have much to do. We mostly just needed to pick up a few things, straighten out some chairs, and probably sweep. Finally she looked over at me.

“Okay. We can do that.”

And with those words, we got to work on cleaning up the band room. The whole time we worked however, Tori didn’t talk. I didn’t either, because I really didn’t know what to say, but she was being oddly quiet compared to her normal self.

“Is there something else you want to talk about?” I asked.

She looked up at me.

“Huh?”

“You just… seem like something’s bothering you.”

“Oh… no. It’s nothing. Just… got some personal stuff going on. Nothing you need to worry about.”

She gave me that half smile, but I could tell it was forced. Something was clearly wrong.