Safe | zarry adoption

f o u r

I managed to avoid Mr. Styles as much as I could the next few days. I used the notes that he gave me to complete the homework assignment, and although it definitely wasn't right, at least it was complete. I kept my head down in his class and he never called on me. All in all, it was a quiet, lonely rest of the week.

On Monday, however, Mr. Styles approached me at the end of class. "Hey, Kasey," he said, his voice low so no one else could hear, although a few other students were looking at us. "I wanted to know if you had some time today to go over the homework assignment from Friday."

My heart rate sped up. Did I really fuck it up that badly? "Um... I'm available during lunch if that's okay with you."

He smiled. "Wonderful! You can just stay in here, unless you need to grab your lunch?" I shook my head. I ate lunch two days in a row last week, a record, but I needed to save the rest of my extremely large tip for the bills -- and alcohol.

My mom had only gotten worse as the week progressed. The bruise on my cheek wasn't fading, but I bought some concealer at the drugstore over the weekend. Her words were getting more hurtful and the hits were getting harder. I was working as many shifts as I could at the café, trying to avoid being at home at all costs.

"You can share mine, that won't be an issue. I brought extra food today just in case." I was snapped back to reality by Mr. Styles talking.

"Okay, thank-thank you," I responded quietly. Mr. Styles smiled and touched my back before returning to his desk. I sat in silence for the last two minutes of class while everyone was talking with their friends about other classes, sports, who fucked who — stuff I didn't care or know about. Finally, the bell rang and everyone left, leaving me and Mr. Styles alone.

I walked over to his desk where he had the paper sitting out. I pulled up a chair and sat next to him, closing in on myself.

"Okay, Kasey. Here's the deal. You're not in trouble, first off, so you don't need to be nervous. Relax a little, love, yeah?" I nodded and somewhat relaxed myself so I wasn't just a ball sitting in a chair. "I just wanted to go over this assignment. I know I gave you a copy of the lesson, but you still struggled a bit with it and I want to help you understand this so you do well on the test. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, uh, thanks- thanks for helping," I stuttered out.

"It's no problem love, that's my job," he smiled, reminding me that that was really all it was -- his job. He really didn't care about me. I needed to stop making fantasies in my head where people cared about me and I was accepted into someone's life without getting hurt.

Mr. Styles started going over the questions, explaining each one and how it fit into the lesson. Finally, halfway through lunch, I felt that I had understood what he was saying and he stopped to pull out his lunch. "I packed extra food today, I guess I had a feeling that we would be eating together again." I smiled a bit at that -- I truly didn't deserve anything that Mr. Styles was doing for me. "Today we have spaghetti, does that sound alright to you?" I vigorously nodded my head, desperate for any type of food I could get. "I'm going to go to the teacher's lounge to warm this up, I'll be back in a minute."

While Mr. Styles was gone, I worked on correcting the homework that we had just gone over. After he explained what I did wrong and everything that we went over in class, the worksheet made a lot more sense. I was working on the second question when Mr. Styles came back in, steaming container in hand. "Working hard, I see," he said, taking his seat next to me. "I'm proud of you, you're doing so well with your work."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Yeah, after doing awful on it the first time."

"Hey," Mr. Styles' voice was stern, and it scared the shit out of me. "Sometimes it takes people longer to get things, don't beat yourself up for it." I nodded, embarrassed. "No, seriously. Kasey, look at me. "This assignment wasn't easy, and it's more than okay that you needed help with it. Now you're doing so well and I'm proud of you."

"Th-thank you," I replied, not really knowing what to say.

"Why don't we eat lunch now, I spent too long making this last night to let it go cold." He pulled out two forks and we ate. Albeit awkward, I was grateful for the chance to eat food (and plenty of it) and to get out of the library. Being in Mr. Styles' room was much less overwhelming than the other areas of the school, especially during lunch. I made an attempt to make conversation this time as well -- we talked about generic things, but it felt so long since I had had a conversation with anyone, even the people at the coffee shop. At the end of lunch, Mr. Styles put his arm on my shoulder. "Kasey, I want you to know, I'll be in here every day during lunch. If you need someone to talk to, or help with your homework, or just someone to eat lunch with, I'll be here, alright?" I nodded. "I really mean it -- I'll have enough food for the both of us."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Styles."

"You're welcome, Kasey. I enjoy your company." He smiled at me and I smiled back, keeping the smile on my face all the way to math class. Maybe he did care about me, just a little bit. Maybe not everyone in this world was out to get me.

What a wonderful thought.

awe another cute chapter <33 make sure to vote/comment on this story if you're reading it, it really would mean a lot!! i have finals coming up really soon and a big piano event this weekend, so im not sure when the next update will come but i promise it will be soon. i love every single person reading this book and i hope you all have a wonderful day <3

- asteria

(also please let me know if you want longer chapters less frequently or shorter chapters more frequently - im trying to figure out what to do)