Chapter Three

I walked back upstairs after locking the doors and turning out the lights. I walked into my room and stood in front of the mirror. I sighed and tugged at my baggy black t-shirt, I looked like a 12 year old boy. It had never bothered me before, in fact I loved hiding my curves, My long straight auburn hair was pulled up in to a tight, but messy bun. I didn’t wear make-up, although my complexion was pretty good, I had my mom to thank for that. My blue eyes were hidden behind my black framed glasses, I had contacts but I never wore them… mainly because I loved not being a piece of meat to the hungry eyes of the male student body and fortunately for me, most of the boys at my school were incredibly superficial. Something felt different right now though, and I wasn’t sure what. One thing I was sure of though, was the fact today had unsettled me, completely to the very centre of my being.

The next morning when I woke, my parents were already gone for the day. It wasn’t anything new to me, but it had never gotten easier over time either. I opened my closet and took out a pair of jeans and, my hands slid over a fitted white top and black woollen cardigan my mom had bought me the year before. I’d never worn it. I pulled the clothes on and stood in front of the mirror. I cocked my head and ran my hand over my breast and down over my hips. I argued with myself for a few minutes, about whether or not I should go back to my usual ‘style’ of dress or stay in the top. I opted to stay in the top, because I really couldn’t be bothered changing again.

I grabbed my bag and headed out the door and down the end of the driveway to wait for the bus. I saw Mr Cartwright exit his house, he glanced over and saw me and I shot him a smile, however he just looked away again and got in his car. I frowned not sure what I had done to offend him this time, but I shrugged as he drove away, it was his problem. The bus came a few minutes later and I boarded. When I got to school both Ryan and Louise were already there, waiting by the bus stop. Louise looked like she might have a hernia from excitement, although I wasn’t completely sure why. I hopped off the bus and walked over to them.

“Details!” She exclaimed bouncing from foot to foot. I raised an eyebrow and looked over at Ryan who shrugged and then said “She’s been like this since you went offline”

“hey, you’re not wearing a baggy t-shirt!” Louise said, her excitement only heightening

“Hey yeah….. you look nice Andrews” Ryan said looking me up and down. I self-consciously pulled the cardigan over my chest and looked over at Louise

“Eh, all my clothes were in the wash” I lied “Look I was made to write names on folders for an hour, I missed the bus, he gave me a ride home… and it turns out he is my new neighbour” I exclaimed flippantly.

“Really! Well I guess more visits to your house is in order!” she swooned

“See now I thought it would be more reason to avoid visits to my house but whatever” I joked.

“Maybe we should have a sleepover this weekend?” she suggested “Nothing to do with the hot sexy teacher though, I solemnly swear, we just haven’t had one in ages!

“I’m in, my parents will be working, and you guys know I love the company”

“Sounds great” Ryan added with a grin

We walked into school and thus started the day of moronic learning. At lunchtime as I was walking to meet Ryan and Louise In the cafeteria I was reading a text on my cell phone from my parents saying that they would be going away this weekend. I frowned stuffing the phone back in my pocket, frustrated that they communicated with me only through electronic means, unless I was working for them. Before I had a chance to look up I crashed into the back of someone

“Shit” I shouted, as the person turned around “Sorry” I mumbled backing up

“Miss Andrews, Language” Came Mr Cartwright auto voice “I wouldn’t want to have to give you a detention” he said with a glint in his eye. I frowned at him, unsure what had made him return to the smarmy grumpy with me teacher, and I didn’t care. Instead of saying anything more I sidestepped and continued walking toward the cafeteria. When I got there I just went and sat down, I wasn’t hungry in fact the thought of food made me feel sick. Instead I sat down and flopped my head into my hands.

“You okay, You don’t look great” Louise asked concerned enough to feel my head. “You’re burning up, we should take you to the nurse”

I shook my head

“I just need an Advil and maybe some water” I said delving in to my back fumbling around for some pills. Technically it was against school rules to carry any kind of medication unless it was approved at the office. However, I always found it a great waste of my time high tailing it to the nurses office to attain Advil for period pain, so I kept a tab sheet in my bag. I popped two of the pills into my mouth and took a sip of water from my bottle, as I swallowed a hand tapped me on the shoulder

“Leave me alone” I mumbled resting my head back down, the Advil would kick in soon and I would be fine, but the last thing I needed was one of those annoying preppy students asking me to join one of the after school clubs.

“Miss Andrews” came the now familiar voice “You’re going to need to come with me.

I jolted up and spun around

“M.. Mr Cartwright” I stammered, I stood up and felt a little dizzy, but regained composure and followed Mr Cartwright out of the cafeteria. Once we were out in the corridor he place his hand on my head

“You should be in the nurses office” he said, his voice softening only slightly

“I’ll be fine honestly” I said, the Advil already beginning to kick in, or maybe that was just talking to Mr Cartwright? Argh, stop it with the damn thoughts about your teacher psycho I told myself silently.

“I’m sure you are aware of the policy on medication Miss Andrews” he said holding his hand out

“I’m not sure what you mean Mr Cartwright” I answered, knowing full well he knew of the Advil.

“Hand over the Advil, and I won’t give you detention”

I shrugged, like another detention bothered me, besides, it seemed like Mr Cartwright had a case of split personality, going from being an asshole to being kind, and back to being an asshole, maybe I’d get to see psycho Cartwright today.

“You threaten me with detention a lot Mr Cartwright, and we are only on the second day of school.

“Then stop giving me reasons to Miss Andrews.” He replied his tone exasperated

“Can I go now?” I asked, getting frustrated with myself.

“Yes” he said, ushering me away with his hands. I turned and walked back into the cafeteria shaking my head. What the heck was his problem? I thought we’d sorted everything yesterday. I sat back down next to Ryan and Louise and pretended nothing had even happened. Louise looked at me, dumbfounded and lifted her arms up, waiting for me to respond and tell her what had just happened.

“I have another detention, yay for me” I mumbled sarcastically.

“Maybe he likes you?” She grinned dreamily

I scoffed loudly “You are kidding right? Oh she’s an awesome student I’ll just keep giving her detentions for stuff that just warrant warnings” I said, speaking in a mocking tone. Louise and Ryan laughed, which followed with me also laughing. After lunch I headed to music, I found myself wishing that I had no class after Music, wishing I could just go home, and probably to the supermarket, given my parents had yet to go shopping. My wishes were futile however because the bell rung as normal and I found myself trudging to science with a frown on my face. There were no lost freshmen today thank goodness so I was actually one of the first to walk in and take my seat. I took out my text book and a pen and started drawing a stick figure running toward a cliff, another diving in to a fire pit and one more jumping in to a crocodile infested pool.

Ryan sat down beside me and looked at the drawings

“Uh, neat?” he said “Should I be calling a shrink for you?

“No, it’s only this class that makes me feel this way” I groaned, at that moment there was a small cough from in front of me and I looked up. Mr Cartwright stood there, glaring down at my defacement of the textbook; luckily it was my own so I knew he couldn’t give me detention for it.

“I’m sorry you don’t like my class Miss Andrews” he said softly, his eyes softening as he turned and walked away. I frowned again, this guy had me completely confused. Louise filed in shortly after and we got stuck in to our textbooks.

“So any questions on Chemistry so far?” Mr Cartwright sang out as the 3.30pm bell approached, One girl shot her arm up in the air, I could almost see the pulsating love hearts in her eyes already and knew that she was going to ask something personal.

“Miss Manning”

The girl shifted forward a little and then went a shade of pink “Mr Cartwright, is chemistry between people the same as this chemistry?

Mr Cartwright look down and when his eyes lifted back up they looked at me for a split second before returning to the girl in the back.

“I believe it is in some respects Miss manning, but we won’t be learning about the chemistry between people in this class. Now, homework tonight, read chapter 3 of the text and do the activities. See you tomorrow!” he called out as the bell rang. Again the class filed out, and again I stayed sitting in my seat. Mr Cartwright stood up and walked over to my desk.

“Are you okay Miss Andrews, you looked quite unwell at lunch” he asked with a degree of concern, which I didn’t understand, I found myself shrugging I felt fine now, a little hungry given that I’d not eaten all day, but fine.

“I’m fine, it was a momentary thing ”I replied flicking my pen between my fingers “Besides the Advil fixed it” I added smirking.

“You know the rules, medication is prohibited unless approved at the office” he warned sitting on the desk next to me. He seemed relaxed and as I looked up his arm I noticed the remnants of a tattoo poking out the bottom of his t-shirt sleeve. Part of me wanted to reach out and pull the sleeve of his shirt up and look at the rest of the ink, it fascinated me the art of tattooing, and I loved to see others work. I pushed aside the inappropriate thoughts of Mr Cartwright’s arm and forced myself to focus on what we were talking about, I looked him in the eye and then said

“Well running to the office when I have period pain sucks the big kahuna” I laughed as his face went slightly red, and he nodded “Fair enough, Maybe I’ll let it slide this time then”

“Can I go then?” I asked hopefully

“I was kind of hoping you’d help me with something, it won’t take long I promise”

I sighed, he’d found my weakness, but I wasn’t sure if he’d realised it yet. I hated saying no, I liked helping others out, even if it put me in a difficult position, case in point… yesterday afternoon.

“Fine, but if it involves defrosting frogs for dissection, count me out” I said shaking my head, feigning a gag. Mr Cartwright shot me a funny look and then shook his head

“Elliot, first of all, we only get fresh frogs here for dissection, secondly, you took a science class that incorporates a few main themes. Chemistry, biology and genetics. We won’t be dissecting frogs this year” he said in a laidback tone, completely different to how he had been talking to me the other times I’d seen him today.

“Well what do you need my help for?” I asked, watching the clock tick ever closer to 4pm.

“I just have a few posters I need to put up” he said pointing to a pile of posters on the floor by his desk. I gazed around the room looking for a ladder, but there wasn’t on around.

“Ladder?” I questioned

“The janitor has had them taking away for repairs, he said it could be a couple of weeks and rather than go and by my own solely to put these up, I figured I could just do it myself, only I’m not tall enough”

I let my mind tick over for a few minutes, confused as to how this would work. The stools and tables in the classroom were bolted to the floor and unmovable, whilst Mr cartwrights chair was on wheels and far to dangerous to stand on I looked over at Mr Cartwright and cocked my head to the side. Surely he didn’t mean….

“Um, so how?” I said after a few minutes of trying to figure out a plan in my head, but coming up with nothing, other than that.

“climb on my shoulders” he said simply, as if it was a simple task, as if it was completely appropriate.

“Really? Isn’t that inappropriate Mr Cartwright” I exclaimed, a little to much shock in my voice for my liking, I sounded like a prude, which was strange considering there was absolutely nothing sexual about climbing on a teachers shoulders to hang a bunch of science posters. I looked over at Mr Cartwright who had an amused look on his face, his lips curled into a smile and then a small laugh left his lips.

“We’re hanging posters Miss Andrews, it will be fine”

“Fine!, but we need to hurry, my bus leaves in 15 minutes” I exclaimed climbing up on to the science room desk. Mr Cartwright lifted the posters on to his desk then walked over and then turned his back to me. I took a deep breath, still not completely comfortable with the situation, I hooked one leg over his shoulder, his arm wrapped around my shin and held it firmly as I sunk down and flicked the other leg over. He took that leg too and readjusted himself until he was able to walk over to the posters. I felt a little dizzy being up this high, he wasn’t exactly a short 5”6 person like I was, he stood around 6”1

“Not used to seeing the world from this perspective, I think I can almost see my house from here” I joked, trying to calm my own insecurities about sitting upon the shoulders over my science teacher

“well, you are pretty short after all, so it’d be like a whole new world for you” He retorted, I softly kicked him in the side with my foot and he feigned a ouch sound as he handed me the poster.

It took us half an hour to put all the posters up, half an hour of sitting on the shoulders of Mr cartwright, It hadn’t been that bad for me to be honest, the weird tension soon passed and we had fun joking around. Given that Mr Cartwright had held all 120lbs of me the entire time I’d expected him to be exhausted, surprisingly he wasn’t.

“Hope I didn’t damage your shoulders” I joked picking up my bag

“Well, you were pretty heavy” he joked back, rubbing his shoulders dramatically.

I looked over at the clock, 4.29pm, dammit. Mr cartwright noticed me look over at the clock and then said “Relax, I’ll give you a ride. Its no biggy. Thank you for helping me out with the posters”

“No problem”

Again I followed Mr Cartwright out to his pulsar, and again I hopped in, although this time the air wasn’t as hostile between us.

“Mr Cartwright..” I started to say

“Matt” he interjected “Call me Matt out of school okay”

“Okay Then, Matt, I was just wondering what made you want to become a teacher?” I asked inquisitively, curious about how one decides to take the not very well paying, mundane job of teacher sarcastic hormonal shits like teenagers as a career. Mr Cartwright… Matt, didn’t say anything for a while, he started the car and drove out of the car park, contemplating his answer.

“Well to be honest I wanted to do something I’d missed out on as a student, I wanted to make learning interesting for kids, get them wanting to know more, get them excited, I definitely didn’t do it for the bonus’s or the dental plan” he joked, a hearty laugh following.

Helping others to get excited about learning, it was surely an idealistic task, one that I imagined most new teachers wanted to achieve, it was also a inspirational idea though, students these days were all so worried about the social aspects of high school, the boyfriends, the proms and not about what mattered, the learning, and I realised that my own disinterest in school stemmed off the archaic teaching style I’d become accoustomed too. It didn’t invite me in to learn, and there fore I wasn’t interested in learning. The truth was though, I knew how important an education was, which is why I’d stuck at it, and not dropped out, I too wanted to be excited about learning, and even in music, it just wasn’t happening.

“Noble task, probably a little wishful, but at least you’re in it for the right reasons” I commented.

“You’re not really like other teenagers are you Elliot?” Mr…. Matt questioned as he turned a corner, keeping his eyes on the road, I turned and looked over at him, and pursed my lips. What did he mean?

“I mean, you have the cynicism of person twice your age for one” He said in a teasing voice, as if reading my thoughts, I scoffed and tuned back in to look out my window, I wasn’t that cynical.

I kept silent the rest of the way home and when we pulled in to Matt’s drive way I looked over at my house and sighed, just one day I’d hope they would think of taking the night off, spending it with me, but it never happened and I doubted it ever would… Maybe I was as cynical as Matt had suggested after all, still they gave me great reason to be.

“Home alone again huh” Matt noted as we both got out of his car. I shrugged and then said with as little emotion as possible “This is my normal actually, having them home would be strange at this point”

I shrugged my bag on to my back and walked down the driveway “Thanks for the Ride Matt” I called out as I headed across the road. I walked across the lawn again, checking the mail as I went, nothing but bills. I walked inside and dumped the mail on the table. I looked into the kitchen and saw that the pot of spaghetti from the night before was still there, needing to be emptied and cleaned so I slung my bag over the back of one of the dining room chairs and walked into the kitchen to do the dishes. After I had finished I walked over to the fridge to check and see if either of my parents had bought some milk home at lunch time, instead on a plate sat a note and my mom’s credit card.

Elliot,

Please go to the store and get some groceries please, you can take the scooter in the shed.

Love Mom and Dad.

I groaned, the scooter was old and decrepit and the amount of black smoke it billowed out told me that it was A. Unhealthy for me to breath in, and B. unhealthy for everyone else to breath in.

We needed groceries however, and I really had no choice given that my parents thought buying a car for their daughter who basically takes care of herself while they work all the time was not needed.

I grabbed the card out of the fridge and the shed and scooter keys of the bench. I walked outside to the shed and opened the door.

The scooter looked even more rickety than I remembered, it was rusted all over and one of the indicator lights was taped on with electrical tape. I shook my head and pulled it off its stand. I put the helmet over my head and climbed on to the deathtrap, and put the key in the ignition, unfortunately it started. I’d been hoping it wouldn’t so I could avoid having to ride it at all.

I walked it out of the shed and then eased on the accelerator down the driveway. Because our driveway was on an incline, the natural velocity caused the bike to sped up and I tried to slow it down by braking, but the brakes failed and I went skidding down the driveway, my heart was pounding and I was trying to figure out how to avoid seriously hurting myself. But before I could think about it too much, the scooters front wheel hit the curb by Matt’s house and I flew over the front handle and on to his lawn.

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