Class is in session(Cricky/Andley)

Lesson 4

"Ricky!" I called out in the halls but I lost sight of him. I ran a frustrated hand through my hair just thinking back to the incident in the cafeteria. Ricky looked so scared and embarrassed. I swear if I ever saw that Purdy kid I'll assasinat him!

I kept stalking around trying to find where Ricky had hidden until I heard a soft whimper coming from my art room. Slowly creaking open the door, there I found Ricky sitting at his usual door in the back, tears in his eyes as his head hung down. My heart broke seeing such an innocent boy crying all because of some jerk. I could totally sympathize with him, I've been bullied myself when I was his age.

I walked over to where he was sitting taking a seat next to him. He didn't lift his head up but quickly wiped underneath his eyes with his long sweater sleeve trying to smear his eyeliner. But it was already messy and running down his face.

"Ricky...it sounds dumb asking but are you okay? Did he hurt you?" The smaller boy was quick to shake his head but he still wouldn't look up at me. I bit my lip playing with the holes where my piercings used to be for a bit until I rested my hand on his trembling shoulder. 

"Wanna skip next period and stay here? You can work on your project or draw or do whatever you want. I'll talk to whoever you have next." Ricky slowly peeked up at me tucking a few strands of his hair behind his ear sniffling before slowly nodding. A small smile curled up on his lips and I couldn't hold back my smile. I patted him on his back and went to grab his sketch book that he used for my class before going back to hand it to him.

He smiled shyly up at me before opening up the book and the first thing I saw was a sketch of a vine with roses trailing down it. I placed my hand on the page admiring the detail and I could tell Ricky was blushing.

"It's beautiful. You have a natural talent Rick." I complemented. The smaller boy just shrugged and held back a smile and I knew he was thankful for the complement. I left him alone going over to my desk to get today's lesson ready for my next period but I kept glancing up at him. For a moment it seemed as if I were being watched by him, like he kept looking up at me but looked away whenever I almost caught him.

"Who is your next period teacher?" I asked remembering I needed to tell them Ricky wouldn't be there.

"Uhm..M-Mrs. Appleton." Ricky barley spoke over a whisper bit I heard him clearly. I nodded and told him I would be right back. Mrs. Appleton was sort of nice, she's worked here longer than me, maybe about 18 years or longer. She was an older lady but was nice to some teachers. I've only talked to her a handful of times and she was nice with me saying she had a son near my age or something.

After I got done talking to her and her saying it was fine, I went back to my class to see one other student sitting with Rick. My guard went up until I realized Rick was actually smiling. I recognized the student as Ash Costello, another favorite of mine despite her and her girl friends always hitting on me playfully. But I didn't mind it honestly, I knew they were just joking and being silly.

Ash giggled as she said something before looking over to see me standing by the door.

"Oh hey Mr. C. I was just getting to know little Ricky here." She smiled glancing back at Ricky who just smiled shyly and shrugged.

"Well, as long as you and your little creatures don't corrupt his mind." I joked before going back over to my desk letting the two talk. I kept my head down most of the time but I kept glancing up at the two as they talked, well mostly Ash talked. Rick doesn't have many friends, so seeing him talking to someone made me feel proud but also protective. I didn't want to let my guard down around him.

The bell rang and some students started piling inside my classroom going to their designated seats. This class had a different project assigned to them since I didn't want anyone stealing the other classes ideas. All they had to do was sketch something and write a short poem to go with it.

After the second bell rang I silenced the class and began the lesson.
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"Miss Costello for the last time, Johnny Depp is not a fictional character. You cannot use him for your project." I pinched the bridge of my nose using the other hand to rest on my hip. The half headed girl groaned throwing her arms up in the air defending her so called "man". The other student just chuckled amongst themselves.

"Okay but he plays fictional characters. So doesn't that count?" She smiled widely batting her eyelashes at me trying to seem innocent but I just rolled my eyes.

"Fine, but choose a fictional character he's played that you can actually write about."

Ash clapped her hands along with her two best friends, Kaya and Dani who just giggled. I held back a laugh and looked back to check on Ricky. He was holding back a smile as he concentrated on whatever he was sketching in his book. He's been working on it all period, I wonder what it could be. Before I could say anything else, the bell rung indicating the end of class and I dismissed everyone.

Well, except for Ricky.

He went to turn in his book in his own cubby with the others before going over to pack up his stuff. I gathered my papers up slowly, just watching him and I felt my face warm up. God he was so adorable. The way he always looked so shy, his soft speaking voice, and when he occasionally giggled it melted my cold black heart. He swung his bag over his right shoulder before heading to the door which was on my side of the class.

"Um..thank you for having me in here Sir." He said shyly but smiled and waved before walking out of the room. I wish he would've stayed longer but I knew that would be wrong and creepy. He was 17 years old, and a 33 year old man like me? Hell no, nobody would like that. This isn't some cheesy fan fiction or romantic comedy where we can just run away and live happily ever after. If anybody found out about my feelings for Rick, it would have a huge risk on my career and whole life in general.

Curiosity got the better of me and I got up going over to where Ricky left his sketch book. I slowly opened it up flipping through his drawings. They were all so beautiful, most were just of roses, cats, random designs and some class drawings he was assigned with. I smiled as I turned each page until I reached the last two. I furrowed my brows when I saw a small sketch of what looked like...me? I examined it seeing it was indeed me but I was drawn in Tim Burton fashion. It was so beautiful, like Tim Burton drew it himself. I turned to the last page and this time found a larger drawing of me. It was of me sitting at my desk looking through some papers.

Normally this would be creepy and I would close the book, but I kept admiring the detailed drawing. He had every little detail of me down to the holes where my lip piercings were. A smile formed across my lips as I ran my fingers over the sketch down to the bottom of the page. There just in the bottom corner I found in small letters a short note.

'Maybe in another life.' With a small heart next to it.

I raised a brow as I kept re reading the note not understanding what it meant. I quickly shut the book putting it back in place before turning back to face the now empty classroom.

I need to really think things through. Wait, so does this mean Ricky....no.
I'm just his teacher, I'm just nice to him and he feels grateful. I shook the thoughts out of my head and went back to my desk to pack up the rest of my stuff to head my history classroom. I needed to clear my head.
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