Love Me Anyway (A student-teacher relationship)

Chapter Nineteen

WARNING: I am laughing at how horrible this is

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I woke up to a faint beeping. The blurry white ceiling of a hospital room swirled in front of my vision, and the groan that left my lips only faintly met my ears. My hand twitched at my side, slowly moving up to meet my face. Sharp pain, a mix of tingling and stinging, met my touch. The room was empty.

I pressed the call button, knowing from experience that the nurses and doctors would want to check in on me Sandy was in in a moment, and I waited impatiently for the poking and prodding. She just stood in the doorway though, a giddy grin on her face that was beginning to eat away at my nerves.

“What?” I asked, more sharply than intended.

“You never told me that the teacher was your boyfriend.” I blanched.

“W-what? What are you talking about?” I laughed nervously, my leg bouncing. It was true that Josh wasn’t really my boyfriend, but it was too close to the truth, and probably more incriminating than a simple kiss.

“Don’t what me. He was here earlier. Told me everything. About you, him, and your father. I think it’s sweet. He was here earlier you know, but had to leave so that others didn’t get suspicious.”

“What happened?” I asked, swallowing. “To my father?”

“He’s been arrested. It’s just a matter of waiting for the trail, but there’s no way of him getting out of it. That boyfriend of yours has more than a pretty penny.” My eyebrows drew together in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? I would have to ask him later.

“So… he’s gone?”

“He’s gone,” Sandy confirmed, and I was filled with immediate relief, then worry. What about Marcus? He probably wouldn’t  mind much. But what about Shianne? I didn’t like the woman, but she was pregnant, and her husband was being arrested for child abuse (although, since I was 19 it would be assault now). What about me? I would hardly be able to stay with Shianne, after getting her husband arrested. I couldn’t be put in the system, since I was over 18, but I was hardly ready to live on my own. I didn’t have the money for that anyway.

“You’ll be living with me,” Sandy said, and I wondered if I had spoken out loud or if I was just an open book.

“How did I get here?” I asked, the question only just occurring to me. Of course not my father, and Marcus never interfered.

“Some boy named dropped you off. He called himself Gar… strange name.” Gar? God, being unconscious sucked. Now I was all confused. “He should actually be back soon. I think he just dropped by the cafeteria.”

Sandy proceeded to do what she was intended to, and left just moments before Gar came back in.

“What were you doing at my house?” I asked him immediately. His eyes widened.

“Oh yeah. I got your address from Nicole. I wanted to give you this.” He fished around in his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper and tossing it in my lap. I smoothed it out. It was a flyer for a singing competition, which ended in the winner receiving a record deal. “I know it’s kind of far fetched,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck shyly, “but it could be fun, even if you don’t win. Not saying you wouldn’t win…”

“I don’t perform in public,” I said, frowning as I refolded the paper.

“You should. You’re amazing.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. It’s true.”

“Not for the compliment. For finding me.” His face paled.

“It was horrible… I knew that your dad… hit you… everyone knows… no one can do anything…but everyone knows. And I knew but… I never though… all the blood…and you weren’t moving.” His eyes took a glossy, distant look, and I wished suddenly that he didn’t find me, so that he wouldn’t have to remember that.

I was discharged from the hospital a day later. They didn’t need to keep me long, since I only got some stitches. I retrieved my stuff from the house, and packed it away to Sandy’s, which was much smaller, but much more homey. She tried to get me to stay home for the week, but I went to school without hesitation.

If anything, I was eager. School was never the nicest place for me, and I knew that that wouldn’t be changing any time soon, but I didn’t mind. I had never felt so happy as I did now. I was finally free, and even though I felt a small amount of guilt for the rest of my family, I was finally free. It was something I had been dreaming about since I was five years old, and the beating started. It was over now.

I went to all my classes that day, a first for the school year, and eagerly went to art. I needed to talk to Josh.

When the bell rang at the end of class, I waited behind, ready to question him thoroughly, but he beat me to it.

“Are you okay?” he asked, taking my face in his hands, his beautiful eyes staring deeply into mine.

“I’m fine,” I assured, placing my hands over his, elated that he worried about me. “But now you need to tell me about the money.” Josh grinned.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said, with a mischievous smile.

“Tell me.”

“Well, my dad is rich.”

“So you’ve had money this whole time?”

“Nope. My mom wasn’t my dad’s wife. She was his mistress. So I’m some huge secrets. Only spoken to my father once. The point is that when my dad died, he left his money to my half-brother, who was probably about 25 years older than me. He died a few weeks ago, and through a ton of technicalities, I ended up with his money.” I laughed slightly, shocked. “I’ve actually had the money for a while, but I wasn’t able to really access it until recently.”

“So that’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“That’s amazing.”

He laughed, wrapping his arms around me and resting his chin in my hair. I knew that we were a couple, even if the words hadn’t been said. Yes, I was dating my teacher. We still had over half the year to get through, but I was ready for it. It would all be fine, I knew. It would work out.

Life can only do so many bad things to one person before it starts to feel guilty. It threw so much at me at once, and I guess this was just its way of making it up to me. I would never be normal. I would probably always have nightmares. But when I woke up, I somehow knew that an amazing man would be there to comfort me.