Missing Martha

116

Zoe entered the living room again where the five students were discussing how they would be back in school in two days.
"He never told us that!" Complained Ollie as Zoe closed the door behind her.
"Never told you what?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the red leather sofa, crossing her legs which were covered by her short blue dress.
"We'll be back in school in two days." He told her.
"When'd he say that?" She asked him,
"Just there now, on the phone to the school." He told her, pointing to Martin who was sitting on the balcony outside, he was finished talking on the phone, so she called him.
"Mr McCafferson?!" Called Zoe, standing up to greet him.
Martin walked towards her in quite a drunken and heavy way before putting his hands on her shoulders.
"M-Martin..?" She questioned, suspecting he might just kiss her in front of everyone.
Martin was filled with nerves when he saw how she looked today, everything about her in his eyes was perfect, he just felt dizzily overwhelmed, also by the fact that he had been appointed as new principle, and the fact that he'd given himself such a short time scale to get home.
"I- I- think I'm gonna faint.." he breathed, his eyes wide and unfocused.
"That's my line." Chuckled Zoe, taking his arms, "Come on, sit down."
He sat down on the sofa and put his head between his knees, closing his eyes as Zoe sat beside him and rubbed his back.
"What's going on?" She soothed,
"Everything." He mumbled through his hands before suddenly putting his head up again and leaning it against the top of the sofa, staring at Zoe.
"You look gorgeous today, Zo." He murmured,
"Thanks, so do you; now are you gonna tell me what happened?" She asked, smirking at him.
Martin opened his mouth but struggled to find the words, "I- I think you guys should get all packed up because we're gonna get going soon."
"Okay..?" Said Zoe, biting her lip and looking over at the other five who were equally as confused as she was.
"You better tell us what this is about or we'll be wondering our whole lives about it." Complained Lucy, standing up first.
"Oh you'll find out." Martin assured her.
"Why're we leaving so soon? Why can we only have two days? Can't we have more time?" Asked Cloda, "even just a day or two."
"Clodes.. we're on our third week away, we've gotta go home.." Martin told her,
"I don't have a home!" She called back.
"Nor do I! But there's a lot of stuff that needs to be done when I get back and I.. I can't keep doing this." Explained Martin, trying to remain calm.
"You can't keep-"
Cloda was cut off by Ollie standing in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders,
"Cloda, Cloda come on now, calm down; you know what he's talking about." Said Ollie as the others began to walk towards the door, not sure who to agree with.
"Look I'm sorry, I don't wanna fall out with anybody about this. And I promise I'll get everything sorted so that you do have places to go back to. I'm really trying, Okay?" Martin justified, wiping his brow before running his hands down his face.
Once everyone had dispersed into their rooms Martin sighed,
"We should get packed up too."
Zoe placed her hands on his cheeks,
"What's going on? You can tell me." She said,
"You haven't told me your secret yet." He said, standing up, "I'm supposed to be your fiancé."
"I don't wanna stress you out anymore than you already are!" She explained, standing behind him.
"Oh great so it's gonna stress me out then! Just what I need right now! My house is gone, my family's gone, works a mess, students hate me- more stress about the baby then?!" Martin began walking towards his bedroom door.
"Don't shout at me!" Zoë retaliated, "you're the one that's overreacting- you haven't even told me what's going on!"
"Over reacting?! You've been teasing me that there's something wrong with our baby and you haven't told me what! How do you think I feel?!"
"I never said there was anything wrong with our baby!" Insisted Zoe,
"Why can't you just tell me?! For Christ's sake! Do you want me to take that engagement ring back?!" Threatened Martin,
"What the fuck, Martin?!" Yelled Zoe.
"Well maybe I don't want to be married to someone who's constantly keeping secrets from me!" Shouted Martin,
"You don't want to marry someone who is keeping secrets for the sake of pleasantly surprising you?! Get a fucking life!" She spat.
They were both cut off by the students barging back into the room with their suitcases.
"Okay that's enough!" Called Ollie, making Martin with fury barge back into his bedroom.
Zoe coughed awkwardly, "it's nothing bad, Martin. It's good, I promise you it's fine." She muttered under her breath, looking up at him from the threshold of the bedroom.
Martin nodded in reply as she grabbed her already-packed bag from the bed and snatched the keys from the desk.
"I'm driving." Martin snapped, folding his shirts into his suitcase.
"Not with that attitude, you're not." She responded, narrowing her eyes and walking towards the door,
"We'll be in the van."
Just as Zoe was about to leave the room she felt a jab of pain in her lower abdomen and fell against the wall, Martin barely hesitated after he heard her gasp and within a few strides he was back by her side.
"I'm okay, I'm okay." She mumbled, clutching the bottom of her stomach as she slid down onto the ground.
Martin kneeled down beside her, knowing she was in pain, he embraced her softly, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for shouting." He whispered, rubbing her back.
"It's okay." She breathed, closing her eyes and trying to relax.

In the living room Cloda was close to tears with anger and sadness about going home. Everyone felt the same but knew that they had no way to justify it; after all, their teacher had paid for almost everything and had the right to go home when he wanted to.
"He just wants to go home so he can have more time with Zoe without us in his way." Complained Cloda.
"That's not our business, it's been over two weeks, his home life is messed up, he needs to sort stuff out. Come on he's given us everything he's got." Explained Ryan, who was growing paler by the day.
"I know he has, I know he has, and I'm always gonna be thankful for that.. but.." Cloda figured that she couldn't justify her reason for wanting to stay, but Ollie could.
"I'll miss you guys too." He said, blankly smiling.
Jemma bit her lip and the others sighed, knowing what would happen. That'd they might not ever see each other again after this trip.