Chapter Two

 

The next day, my alarm went off and I didn’t want to get up but I did anyways. I grabbed my black leggings and a baggy sweater to wear over it.

 

(At lunch time, before fourth block.)

                “Ella! Slow down! I can only go so fast on crutches!” Ella laughed and stopped, waiting for me to catch up. “My toe hurts so freaking bad.”

                “What did you even do?” She asked, setting our lunches down. We sat down and started eating the schools idea of a “healthy” meal.

                “I dropped a desk on it yesterday.” I took a bite of the stale pizza and cringed.

                “Whose desk did you drop on it?” She asked, unlocking her phone and texting somebody fast.

                “Mr. Martins. I was helping him rearrange his room before I left yesterday.”

                “Ouch. His desk is pretty heavy duty. I’m surprised you could even pick it up.” Again, she was texting.

                “Who are you texting?” I asked, sipping my water.

                “Cody…” She said, smiling.

                “Ooh! When did you two start talking??” I asked, trying to grab her phone from her. She kept it out of reach though.

                “Yesterday. We bumped into each other at the store and made a joke about fruit. Don’t ask. But, it was funny enough for him to ask for my number. We’ve been talking non-stop since.” I smiled and clapped lightly.

                “Yay Ella!” I smiled and laughed because her face turned pink. My eye started throbbing again and it bothered me. “My eye hurts.”

                “You should have smacked her with your crutch. It would have been hilarious.” I shrugged and played with the pepperoni on my pizza. “When are you going to tell someone other than me?”

                “Someone else does know…” She looked at me shocked.

                “Who?! When did this happen?? There’s someone else you can trust??” I nodded and looked at my hands. “Ashlee. Tell me!”

                “Michael…” She looked confused. I pulled the goofy picture of him up on my phone and giggled at it. I showed her the picture and her eyes widened.

                “Mr. Martin? That looks like a selfie… What happened yesterday?”

                “He took me to the hospital. We talked. He’s twenty-three. I think I’m in love.”

                “Ashlee… This isn’t going to happen. You know that right?” I sighed and nodded. “Other people would be like “I know you really like him… I think you may need to get help though. Like, find another crush.” As your best friend, I’m saying…” She was dragging me down with all of this and I wanted to hit her. “The first time he kisses you, you better tell me.” I giggled and nodded. The bell rang and we rushed to the elevator, riding up to the second floor. We went into the classroom before anyone else and there was a seating chart. I was in the middle row in the front. Ella was on the other side of the room.

                “Michael.” He looked at me with wide eyes. “I mean, Mr. Martin. Can Ella please sit next to me?” He looked at the chart and thought about it for a minute and switched Bree and Ella. “Thanks.” He nodded and sat down at his desk, which was right in front of mine. Somehow…I think he may have done this on purpose.  Class started and everyone shuffled in. About a half hour into class, kids starting whispering. I rolled my eyes as I heard the conversations.

                “…I heard it was Mr. Capp. It went on for three weeks.” I heard Bree whisper to her friend Kayla.

                “Shut the hell up already!” I said, doodling in my notebook.

                “Excuse me?” She said, standing up and walking over to me.

                “You heard me Bree. I’m tired of you bullying me and it needs to stop before I get to the point where I’ll hurt you.” She went to pull my hair because it was in a ponytail.

                “Bree! Ashlee! Stop it. Bree, go see the principal.”

                “But-“

                “Now!” He bellowed. She grabbed her stuff and stormed out of the classroom. “Ashlee, stay after school please.” I groaned and put my head down on the desk until the end of class. When the bell rang, I didn’t lift my head. I just ignored the sound of kids leaving and tried closing my eyes. As soon as the door shut and I heard a chair being pulled in front of my desk, I lifted my head and looked at him.

                “Am I in trouble?” I asked, leaning back in my seat.

                “No. I just noticed something.” He said, pointing to my eye. “Why is it black and blue?” I groaned. I thought I had hid it well enough with makeup. “No amount of makeup could cover it.”

                “It was me. I pissed her off again.”

                “Am I the only one who knows?” He asked, standing up. I shook my head. “Who else knows?”

                “Ella.” I said. He walked over to the phone and dialed a number. “Can you page Ella Arther and ask her to come back to my class?”

                “Ella Arther to Mr. Martins room please, Ella Arther.” The page ended and Ella came running into the classroom.

                “Is she okay? Did she die??” She said, looking at me. “Oh. You’re okay.” I face-palmed my forehead and she sat down next to me.

                “So, how long has she been doing this Ella?” He asked her.

                “As long as I can remember. It started when we were little. Like, seven.”

                “Have you tried getting help for her?” She nodded. “She’s been refusing.”

                “Guys-“I tried to say but Ella covered my mouth with her hand.

                “No one believes her. Her mom is a CEO of a huge company and they believe what she says, not what her sixteen year old daughter says. Even if she tried getting help, no one believes her.” He looked down at his feet and sighed. “Mr. Martin? Can I ask you a question?” He looked up at her and nodded. “Why are you so invested in this?”

                “Because it’s not right for her to be being hit.” He said. “I’m a teacher. If I find out something like this, I’m supposed to report it.” Oh. So, it’s just his job. That makes more sense. “Girls, I’m going to report this. Ashlee, I recommend staying at Ella’s for the time being. Your mom won’t mind right?”

                “Right. She’s tried getting Ashlee to stay with us for weeks.” He looked at me with disbelief. I just went into my phone and read the messages between us last night. It didn’t seem like he was just being a teacher then. They went on having their conversation and I just sat staring at the picture of him on my phone.

                “So, I except to see you coming in every morning with Ella and leaving with her.” He said, taking my phone out of my hand. He noticed I had the picture up and set the phone down carefully on my desk. “Ella, you can leave. Ashlee will be down in a couple of minutes.” She nodded and got up, leaving the classroom and shutting the door behind her. “I have a question for you.” I looked up at him.  “How long?”

                “What? What do you mean?” I asked, sliding my phone off the desk and putting it in my pocket.

                “I’m the teacher. How long?” My heart stopped and not in a good way. “Ashlee.”

                “I have to go.” I got up as quick as I could with the crutches and zoomed out of the room. I made it to the elevator and got in, pressing the button and wanting to die. “Come on…” The door shut and I saw a glimpse of light brown hair. How did he find out? I wasn’t being that obvious was I?  I got to the bottom and crutched over to Ella. “I’m ready to go.”

                “What did he want?” I shrugged and got in her car.

                “Just wanted to make sure I was going to go with you.” I put my headphones in and blared my music, staring out the window for the ride back. Thank god for Christmas break…

 

(Random day of Christmas break)

 

Ella woke me up from screaming on the other side of the room. I sat up quickly and looked at her.

                “Ashlee!! It happened!! He asked me out!!” She was flipping out, jumping on her bed.

                “Oh my god. That’s awesome Ella!” I looked at the time on my phone. “It’s three in the morning!”

                “I know! It’s still great!” She flopped on her bed with a sigh and automatically went back to texting. I looked at my phone again and noticed that I had thirteen messages. I opened the phone and saw three from my mom.

Monster: Where are you??

Monster: I guess you aren’t coming back. Good.

Monster: Your s**t is all outside.

                “Seriously?! Ugh!” I said, throwing my phone on the bed.

                “What’s the matter?” Ella asked, sitting up.

                “My mom packed all my stuff and threw it outside. In the snow.” I tried getting out of bed, forgetting I had the cast and a broken toe and fell flat on my butt.

                “We’ll go get it in a couple hours. It’s too early for me to borrow the car.” She said, getting up and walking over to me. She helped me up and got me back into bed. I opened my phone again and looked at the other messages. One from Pizza Hut, one from Bath and Body Works, and eight from him. I opened the ones from him.

Michael: Ashlee, it’s me. Answer this message please.

Michael: Ashlee.

Michael: I just want to talk to you.

Michael: I think it’s cute you have a school-girl crush on me.

Michael: Scratch that last text.

Michael: How’s your Christmas break going?

Michael: Ashlee… talk to me.

Michael: Answer me when you get these messages.

“He’s really determined to talk to you. Is his name Michael in your phone?” She tried looking again but I locked the screen before she got a chance.

                “Ella. I don’t know what to do. He seems like he likes me.” I flopped back on the bed and sighed.

                “He’s a teacher though. He could lose his job. I don’t think he would risk it.”

                “Then why is he texting me? And why is he so protective of me?”

                “I’m not sure. But, I would try to get over him. There’s this friend of Cody’s, his name is Caleb. He’s in our history class. You should go out with him.” I nodded and rolled over on my side. I guess the best way to get over this teacher crush is to go out with someone my own age.

(After Christmas break)

I crutched to my locker and opened it, being greeted with a hug from behind. I smiled and hopped around.

                “Hi Caleb.” He smiled and kissed my cheek.

                “How was your birthday?” He asked, poking my cheek.

                “It was good. I had a great day with Ella. We went to the movies and the mall. She got me Taco Bell. I’m happy with Taco Bell.” He laughed and reached over my head, grabbing my history binder from the top shelf. “What?”

                “Taco Bell is great.” I smiled and hopped back around, shutting my locker. I tried grabbing my binder but he wouldn’t let me take it. “You’re on crutches, I will carry it for you.” I crutched to history class and sat down in my seat. Luckily, Caleb sat on the other side of me and he set my binder down as he sat in his seat. Everyone shuffled in and took their seats but someone was missing. The bell rang for class to start and Mr. Martin still wasn’t here.

                “I wonder where he is.” Ella said, pulling out her phone and texting Cody. He isn’t in our history class but he’s still around.

                “I’m not sure.” I shrugged and leaned back in my seat, staring at the ceiling. It was about ten minutes before he came in and he didn’t look very happy.

                “I hope everyone’s break went really well. Get your history books out and turn to page 219.” He set his bag down on his desk and sat in his seat. His hair was messy and he had a five o’clock shadow. His eyes look like he hasn’t slept for days and he looked out to the class. “Do the reading and answer questions five through ten and turn it in.” I realized I left my history book in my locker and raised my hand. “Yes Ashlee?” He said, suddenly interested in what was going on.

                “I left my book in my locker, can I go get it?” He nodded and I got up.

                “Do you need help?” Caleb asked.

                “Yeah, I do. It’s too heavy for me to carry with the crutches.” He got up and we went out to my locker. I felt his arms wrap around me from behind and I giggled. “Caleb, we’re in school.” He rested his chin on my shoulder and shrugged.

                “Oh well. I haven’t been able to hug you for a bit so I wanted to.” I smiled and hopped around. He went to kiss me but we heard someone clearing their throat. We looked over and saw Mr. Martin standing there.

                “Caleb. Ashlee. Get the book and get back in class.” He said angrily and went back into the classroom. Caleb grabbed my book and we went back into the classroom, sitting down. Mr. Martin was sitting at his desk, writing something down. We did our work quietly and the bell rang. “Caleb and Ashlee, stay after please.” I groaned and put my head down on the desk. Are you kidding me? I don’t have time for this. Everyone left and I picked my head up, crossing my arms. “You guys can’t do that.”

                “Do what Mr. Martin?” Caleb asked, packing his stuff up.

                “Leave class to make out.” Mr. Martin crossed his arms, sitting on his desk. “If Ashlee needs help with something, Ella can now only go with her.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “What was that Ashlee?” I shook my head.

                “Nothing. Just, you can’t control what I do. Or what anyone else does. You’re a teacher. You don’t have that authority over us.” I said, getting up. “Which means, we are leaving. Come on Caleb.” Caleb got up and grabbed our stuff.

                “Caleb, you can leave. I need to chat with Miss Warren for a minute.” Caleb left the classroom as quickly as he could. Thanks a lot dude. “What was that?”

                “The truth. Just because you helped me get out of a situation that I could have handled on my own doesn’t give you the right to control my life.” He ran his hands over his face. “My mom hates me even more now by the way. She threw all of my stuff in the snow over break and a majority of it was ruined by the time I got to it. So thank you for that.”

                “Thank you for that? I helped you get out of an abusive home! I don’t think I deserve to be yelled at like this by you.”

                “Yelling? I think you’re the only one yelling here Mr. Martin. I haven’t raised my voice once.” I said, suddenly getting really nervous about the fact that I’m so close to him without panicking.

                “We’re back to the Mr. Martin thing?” I was suddenly confused.

                “What are you talking about? You’re Mr. Martin. My history teacher. Key word is teacher. Of course you’re Mr. Martin.” I rolled my eyes and tried crutching to the door.

                “Why didn’t you answer me over the break?” I dropped my head and sighed.

                “Because. You’re my teacher.” I opened the door and left, going over to Caleb. “Let’s go.” We went to the elevator and got in. This has just been a way too crazy day. I need a nap. Or Dunkin Donuts. Whichever comes first. 

Author's Note

Here's the next chapter! Just a heads up, the next chapter will be in Mr. Martins point of view!