Logan

Chapter 9

As Logan enters the building, he takes a glance at his watch. The numbers he sees prompt him to hike his backpack higher on his shoulders and put a little bit more speed in his step. He will not be late on his second day.

He rounds the corner and instead of seeing an empty hallway, he sees a flash of brown hair and hears a piercing squeak as the owner of both lands on the ground in front of him.

"Dammit." From her vantage point on the floor, the girl peers up at him and breaks into a smirk, "Oh, hey Logan. Give a girl a hand, would ya?"

Logan had been frozen in place, but now breaks into action, "Shit, I'm so sorry Gemma. Are you okay?" He reaches down with both hands, grabbing each of hers and hauling up.

At the exact time, Gemma was using his hands for leverage to pull herself up off the floor, causing her small frame to slam into his chest once again. This time, Logan reacted in time and reached his arms around Gemma's body, steadying her.

Her eyes shoot to his and her expression falters. Wordlessly, she raises a hand to the right side of his face, barely a whisper of a touch on the still visible scratch there. Her eyes have questions, but to her credit, she doesn't voice them. Instead she takes a breath and says, "Thank you Logan," in a small voice before taking a step back, pulling away from the embrace.

He releases her, suddenly aware of the position they had been in, muttering another apology. Gemma waves a hand at him and flashes one of her signature grins, the moment gone. She calls a, "See you later!" over her shoulder as she continues down the hallway, on her way to her first period class.

Logan kicks back into gear.

Class. Late.

He made it to room 228 just as the bell rang and quickly found his desk next to Levi. As Mrs. Nguyen takes her place at the front of the classroom, Logan can't help the small smile that tugs at one corner of his mouth. Gemma smells like roses.

"Hey man, you look rough," Levi says, halfway into the lesson.

Logan considers ignoring him, and in the past he would have. He hasn't come up with a good excuse for his appearance and it's not any of Levi's business anyway. But Levi isn't all that bad, and he likes having a place to sit at lunch.

So instead Logan says, "Thanks dude," and smirks at him.

If Levi is put off by the non-answer, he doesn't show it. He replies, "Anytime," with a smirk of his own, before turning back to his work.

The bell rings and the two gather their backpacks and head towards the door when Mrs. Nguyen's voice stops them.

"Logan could I speak with you a moment?" Crap. Logan had hoped he could get past at least one teacher before having to answer some questions. He was still too tired to have a well thought out and plausible excuse.

Levi looks between the two before giving a, "See you at lunch bro," and a reassuring nod, heading to his next class.

Logan turns back to Mrs. Nguyen's desk and braces himself, "Yes ma'am?"

"How was your first day?"

"Oh." Logan furrows his brow, a move that nearly made him wince, this was not where he thought this talk was going, "It was good, I like my classes. Thank you for asking."

"You're welcome sweetie." She gives him a small smile, "You know we have to talk about it, right?"

Ah, that's where he thought the talk was going. There's no doubt in Logan's mind what 'it' is. His brain scrambles for a story, any story.

Mrs. Nguyen continues, "I know your living situation. We don't have to have a big discussion, I don't have to know all the details. I just have to know if everything is okay. I can and will make a phone call right now if it's not." There's a serious look in her eyes.

"Yes ma'am, everything is okay. This has nothing to do with that. I promise."

"Okay, then that's all we need to talk about today. But if it happens again, we're going to have much more of a conversation. Understand?"

Logan remembers to breathe, "Yes I understand." He starts to turn out the door, but can't help himself.

"Mrs. Nguyen? Does- Do they all know?"

She meets his eyes, her gaze warm and kind, "No Logan, just me. Mrs. Thompson told me because she knows I was in the system as a kid. She's just looking out for you. I am too. Okay?"

"Thank you," is all he can manage before he turns out the door and joins the frenzy that is the hallway.

Maybe he wouldn't have to do that six more times.