hey rockstar

six ; 16 again

"For starters, the girl is rich. And when I say rich i mean old money rich," mum slaps Mali's hand softly, muttering something under her breath. "Her grandparents were some of the richest people in America without actually being famous, and her family in Canada had big money too. But so her grandparents passed away and the money was all given to her dad who works in recording studios and was pretty well off on his own."

"Why are you telling me this exactly?"

"That's what I said. I don't know why they decided they needed to google this poor girl," dad sighs loudly as he watches my mum and sister.

"We wanted to make sure that she was a good person, that's all."

"And in the process we discovered that she's practically a millionaire," I rolled my eyes at my sisters - unimpressed. "This is good. We know that she's not after money right? That she just likes you."

I nod, understanding where they're coming from but at the same time a little weirded out. I mean it makes sense, she wasn't worried about money when moving to Sydney and she has a nice little house and a good car. But Anyone could have that at our age right?

"And we also found out that she was in an accident when she was 16," I stopped mid drink, watching over the beer bottle at my sister. Her eyes are wide as she watches me but she reads off the screen in her hands. "Uhm, she was with some friends driving back from some mountains and they lost control of the car. They went over the edge and rolled a few times. She survived obviously with some damage to her hip and legs and the driver actually died."

"Mali, that's so dark,'' I sigh thinking about what she said, she had been doing soccer but kept dancing because she hurt her achilles?

"Well, it's her life. Shitty stuff happens all the time. You should know that," i nod to myself and try not to think of her sitting at the bottom of a mountain scared for her life

"On that, terribly dark note, dinner anyone?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TENLEY

I lean back into my chair, watching the sun set outside of my classroom. I watched all the other teachers leave hours ago, waving to them as the last few students finished exams. I sat for four hours with students from my own classes and a few alternative writers just to finish off the finals season. But here I am with a stack of 25 exams to mark by the end of day tomorrow.

With a sigh I take the first paper, and my pen hyping myself up to correct them all. And just as my pen touches the page, a shadow appears in my doorway.

"Oh i'm sorry honey the alternate exam period is over," as I finish my sentence Calum steps into the room, a paper bag and a tray in hand. I gave him a smile as I set down my pen.

"Ah, miss could you help me study for my anatomy exam?" I let out a giggle as he sets down the things on a nearby table. "Anatomy is the human body right?"

"Yeah, you got that right. But, I am definitely not a science teacher so..."

"Oh damn. Uh then can you help me study poetry or something?" I roll my eyes, watching him take another look at my classroom with wide eyes. "You really put a lot of effort into your classroom hey?"

"Yeah, I want my kids to feel comfortable here. I try to add stuff with each class, like music they like - each class has their own playlist we listen to. Old graduation photos, or formals."

"I wish I had a teacher like you. I probably wouldn't have dropped out if I did," I raised an eyebrow at him, making him laugh. "You're right, i dropped out to be in a band I totally would've dropped out."