Assisting Victoria

Part Eighteen

            I spent the whole weekend thinking about all that had happened. Lauren eventually called me and I apologized for ditching her at the part and explained that I knew Mitch finding out wasn’t really her fault. It could have happened to anyone else. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

            I also told her about how Heather had showed up at Tori’s house while I was there. At least we both agreed on one thing I had been thinking since I left her house, it was sure an odd time of day for her to invite Heather over.

            On Monday morning I got dressed in baggy pants and a t-shirt. Definitely no looking sexy for me on that day. I just wanted to be comfortable and relax. I was going to try and avoid Mitch as much as possible, and stop thinking about what he could possibly do to make my life any worse. Besides, I couldn’t act like something was up while I was working with Tori that day.

            In 3rd hour I was happy to have the drum I needed to play my part. It was really nice too. Probably expensive. It was also her own personal drum that she bought for herself, so I made sure to take extra good care of it. When we were done, I went and put it in her office. The whole time I tried not to run into her though. I still felt a little awkward about suddenly leaving, and if I could, I was going to prolong not talking about it until I had to.

            At lunch I sat with Lauren and we talked like nothing ever happened. I liked it that way. I didn’t want to stress too much over something that happened in the past. It was actually a new thing I was attempting. So far, I can’t say it’s been going too well, but it was working enough for me.

            “I still think Heather could be her girlfriend,” Lauren said in between her bits of pizza. “I mean… There’s gotta be something going on there. How’d 3rd hour go?”

            “She was her normal self I guess. I didn’t notice anything weird about her.”

            She didn’t even seem to act weird about me leaving or being at her house on Saturday night. Maybe that meant that working with her that day wouldn’t be awkward after all. I started to relax more. I was worrying for nothing.

            When the end of the day came, I went down to the band room as usual. Tori was already there waiting for me, not working, just waiting. I walked in cautiously and set my backpack down on the floor.

            “How do you like cleaning?” she asked.

            “Uh… I don’t,” I told her, being completely honest.

            She laughed a little.

            “I expected as much. Today though, that’s just what we’re going to be doing. We need to do a little cleaning in my new room. They just got it done this weekend.”

            What fun. I sighed and followed her to one of the janitor’s closets so we could get stuff to clean with.

            “Shouldn’t they clean it?” I asked.

            “Technically speaking… yes, but I kind of want to get on it right away.”

            Tori liked to get things done when Tori liked to get things done. I liked that about her, especially because I could be the same way at times, but I wish it didn’t involve cleaning this time. I followed her into the new section of the building, where they were now working on the English and science rooms, and then into the new band room.

            This was really as exciting as it got. We cleaned, we barely talked, and when we did talk, it was never about anything over important. She mainly just asked how things were going with my classes, and how I was liking this being my last year. Honestly though, I wasn’t liking it at all.

-

            For the most part, my days got really boring.  I applied for community college, I brought my grades up, and I continued to help Tori out with whatever she needed. We had a nice thing going and I was definitely getting to be more comfortable around her. Mitch never said anything about us, which was both nice and surprising. No, the farther into the year it got, the more things had appeared to be stabilizing in my life. Unfortunately, the year was also starting to come to an end.

            One day after school I went down to help Tori though, and she was sitting in her office typing away on her computer. She looked over at me when she when she heard me walk up, but something wasn’t right. She sat for a minute, thinking.

            “I’m sorry, Kels. I should have told you this earlier, but I don’t need help with anything today.  I just… I have stuff to take care of.”

            “Oh. Okay.”

She half smiled, turned back to her computer, and I walked out feeling just a little bit disappointed.