The Altruistic Teacher

Chapter 2: Concussion

MCKENNA
My eyes slowly flutter open, everything's still blurry. I try sitting up and my head is hurting. All of the voices are still muffled, someone was holding my hand. I don't know who it was but I squeezed it. "Mckenna?" I can't make out who's voice it is, it seems like everyone's lips are moving. Finally I snap out of it "What happened?" I asked as two hands reach down and pull me up to my feet, surprisingly they belonged to Tyler. I stumble on my feet "Hey, you okay Graceful?" He asks playfully with his stupid nickname for me "Just peachy, Anderson" I glare at him "Hey babe, I was trying to be nice" he says pretending to be hurt and holding his hand over his heart "Cut it out, Ty" he smiles "Only because it's for you, Graceful Mckenna" I shake my head and ignore his attempt to make me laugh, "You fainted, angel" Noah says, as he wraps his arm around my waist to keep me steady, "I-I'm fine, thank you.." I stutter nervously, but Noah insists on keeping his arm around me to keep me steady "If she doesn't want your arm around her, Mr Kennedy I suggest you listen to her" Mr Sorensen says coming to my defence. "Thank you, sir" I say nodding my head as Noah unwraps his arm from my waist "Sorry Mack, I wasn't trying to upset you." I nod "don't worry about it, Noah" I say shrugging it off "Now let's play some soccer!" I smile "Mckenna, I think you should sit out today" Mr Sorensen says and I hate to disagree with a teacher especially in front of a class but with him it's almost different? My stubbornness is always on alert when I'm around him "I'm playing sir, and I'm gonna win" the boys and Mr Sorenson try convincing me to sit out but I refuse. They reluctantly let me play and on my team is Noah, Taylah, Mason, Zoey, Amelia, Jasmine and Max and on the other team is Mr Sorenson, Tyler, Emily, Ella, Bailey, Madison, Josh and Mark. The score is 4 and 5, the game is coming to an end. Two more goals and my team wins, I need to win. Mr Sorenson has the ball and while I'm trying to get the ball I kicked him twice in the ankles, I giggle and steal the ball from him and kick it from halfway and score. "Careful with those feet of yours, sweetheart" he whispers to me "It actually was an accident. I swear" I say, holding my hands up in surrender, he chuckles and we continue playing. I have the ball and Tyler and Josh are cornering me. I smirk and kick the ball swiftly through Tyler's legs while the class bursts into laughter, I bite my lip and try and keep it under control. I dribble the ball past the rest of Tyler's team and I have to get it past Mr Sorenson to win. I dribble the ball back and forth trying to lose him from my tail, I pass the ball to the sideline to Noah and run towards the goals to an unguarded area. "Noah!" I call and he looks up, scooping the back with his foot as he sends it up high in the air. I jump and header the ball into the top right corner of the goal as the game ends. I will admit the hitting the ball with my head wasn't my brightest idea but my team won, so that's all that matters. Everyone gives me a high five and pat on the back, I was surprised to see Tyler come and congratulate me "Nice header, Graceful" I smile "Thanks Anderson, it must hurt losing to a girl twice in the same day" he laughs and shakes his head before walking off. I go back into the locker room and change back into my skirt, tank top and Mr Sorenson's jacket. I come out of the locker room, not paying attention and I walk right into someone. "I am so sorry...sir" I say shyly, his hand gently pats my head while the other unwraps itself from my shoulder when he caught me "It's alright Mckenna, I should've been paying more attention. I was actually coming to see how your head was feeling" I nod and shrug my shoulders "It's okay, I'll survive" his fingers gently rub the side of my head "Ouch" I squealed quietly at his delicate touch "Sorry sweetheart, I was just checking out your bruise. Do you want to go to the nurse?" I shake my head "I'm fine. Thanks for checking on me, again. I might see you later." He chuckles "you will in English, your last class of the day" I completely forgot "oh right, see you then. Bye Mr Sorenson, have a good day. Oh, and sorry about your ankles!" He chuckles "you too Mckenna, maybe I should be the one paying a visit to the nurse" I can't help it and begin to giggle before quickly biting my lip, that's strange that giggling hurt my head? I suppose I've just bruised my muscles that's all or have a mild concussion, it won't be anything serious if that's the case. "Are you alright, Mckenna?" I spin around, running into his chest again "Fine" I say quietly, stepping backwards. "Mckenna, please come with me" he says softly, I quietly follow behind him and he leads me to his office. Closing the door once I'm inside, I take a seat at the small couch as he looks through a cupboard and walks over to me, sitting beside me. I nervously fumble with my fingers "It's okay Mckenna, I won't hurt you. I'll be gentle" his voice was so soft and caring, almost like he was afraid of scaring me off. He shows me the ice pack in his hand and gently presses it again my bruised face, I whine softly "t-that hurts, sir" he looks down at me "I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm trying to be gentle. I guess your stubbornness can be a problem sometimes?" He asks softly and I start nodding my head before I remember not to "Yes sir" he smiles gently, taking the ice pack off as his finger gently traces my bruise again "How's that, honey?" He asks softly and I smile shyly "It's better, it still hurts but it's a lot better. Thank you so much, sir" he smiles back "Of course, Mckenna. Now you need to try and not be so stubborn sometimes, otherwise you'll keep hurting yourself" I nod my head gently, biting my lip. "I'll see you in English, Mckenna. I'll write you a slip for your next class. I believe it was Science, wasn't it?" I gently nod my head, he must've heard Tyler say we have science class next. He writes me down an excused late pass and hands it to me "Be careful. I'll see you later, goodbye sweetheart" he smiles gently patting my arm "Thank you, sir. See you in English. Bye" I wave and head to science class, sitting down in my assigned seat next to Tyler, with Ruby on the other side of me. Ruby and I were writing notes to each other throughout the lesson which seemed to quickly pass by.

The bell rang, I packed up my things and walked to English class. I sat down in my seat and unpacked my notebook and pens. "Good afternoon, Mckenna." His calming voice greets me as I unpack my things. "Good afternoon, Mr Sorenson" I smile as the rest of class piles in and he begins teaching. "Who can name a play that Shakespeare wrote?" I raised my hand and he pointed to me, signalling me to answer "Romeo and Juliet" I said proudly, "Very good, Mckenna. Anyone else?" I look around the classroom "Didn't he write Hamlet?" "No that was William Speare" I giggled quietly to myself, I think they need to pay more attention in here and apparently Mr Sorenson was thinking the same thing "I think you can all learn a thing or two from Mckenna, maybe you should all be paying more attention" I hear a fake cough from behind me "Teacher's pet" I shake my head I'm not going to swoop to Tyler's level although I did have the perfect comeback for his little comment. We wrote down our assigned homework as we began packing up, waiting for the bell to ring so that we could all go home. I finished packing up my things just as the bell rang, I slowly waited for everyone else to leave. I slid off his jacket and held it out to him "Thank you" I said softly with a smile, he smiled back "Mckenna, I told you to keep it. I have plenty of other jackets" I gasped "You're joking? I can't keep your jacket. It's yours, you paid for it" he sighed followed by a chuckle "Think of it as a gift, so don't return it" I shook my head "Fine, thank you sir." He smiled again "Anytime kiddo, now put it on so you don't freeze. Have you got a ride?" I bit my lip, dang it "Uh, still organising it?" Unfortunately it came out more as a question than a statement, "Come on." Not again, I already made him miss his first and half of his second class this morning I can't let him waste more time on me. "Actually I think my brother can pick me up" he came over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder "Come on Mckenna, please just let me take you home so I know you're safe" I sighed "Alright. But only this once" he shrugged his shoulders "We'll see, now come on and be a good girl" I slid my arms into his jacket and followed along beside him "Yes sir" he closed the door and we walked to his car together, he opened the passengers door for me and closed it, I thanked him and buckled my self in.  "So where does the famous Mckenna Grace live?" He chuckles, looking at me in which I giggle back. "36 Meadowvale Lane. Do you know where that is?" I asked "I certainly do, I'm not too far from there actually so it wouldn't be a problem for me to take you to school" I nodded as he started the engine and began driving. "Any big plans for the weekend?" I shrug my shoulders and sighed "Ruby's dragging me to some party tomorrow night but I don't want to go" his eyes flicker to me for a moment "You shouldn't let her force you if you're uncomfortable with going, Mckenna" I nod my head "I know but she's my best friend and she's so excited, I can't let her down" he sighs "You're a good best friend, but please be careful" I nod my head "I know, I will be. Thank you, sir" I smile as he pulls the car over on my driveway. "Well thanks for dropping me home, I guess I'll see you on Monday. Goodbye Mr Sorenson. Have a good weekend" he smiles back, patting my arm "Anytime kiddo, have a good time at the party. Stay safe, I'll see you soon" I nodded my head and sighed, I just hope my moms around for dinner tonight I suppose she's at another meeting. "Hey, what's wrong?" I shook my head softly, faking a smile "Nothing.. I just uh..have a lot of homework to do" I unbuckle my seatbelt and open the car door "Hey uh.." I looked at him as he scratched the back of his neck "If I'm uh...picking you up on Monday, I suppose I should give you my number. Right?" I giggled softly "I guess so" he smiled at me and grabbed a pen from his glovebox "I don't have any paper on me, I'll just write it on your hand" he said chuckling in which I nodded and held my hand out to him as he wrote the numbers clearly and slowly, making sure they're readable. "I'll let you go and do that homework. Goodbye, Mckenna" I smiled and waved, closing the car door as I walked to the front door, getting the house keys out of my bag "Goodbye, Mr Sorenson" he waited for me to get inside, I finally made it into the house and waved, signalling him that I was safely inside and he drove off.