Her Touch

6

AS I LAID on my bed, my arms crossed behind my head and my legs stretched out, I couldn't help but wonder why my past still affected me. I could barely remember the events that took place, only the little fragments in my memory-small moments that I would remember, but enough for me to know what had happened. I couldn't remember my first day of preschool, or that I had to retake the year because I failed miserably, not only because my attention was elsewhere, but because I had missed most of the year. After the incident, I didn't attend school for a few months. My mother decided that I needed a break, to process what took place and to heal. She needed to heal as well-we both needed each other.
But she did have to go to work, something that she couldn't afford to take a break from since we both still needed to survive. So, while she went to work, I would read, I gained most of my knowledge browsing articles and books online. Anything I was curious about, I would research, even though the internet was not as modernized, I still got by with the privileged access I had.
After the few months passed and mom ended up almost facing charges for not sending me to school, I began my kindergarten year all over again, always being older than almost everyone else in my class.
School seemed to fit better into my life as I grew older, it helped with occupying my time and focus, but it never was my favorite thing. I hoped college would be better, and not too long after that I would be exploring the world of possibilities, indulging in total independence.
I heard a rap on my door and lifted my head up to look at it. It was closed but the lock wasn't twitched, "Kylie, it's me," I heard Ava say, making me take a deep breath along with a heavy sigh.
I sat up and stretched my neck side to side, allowing my muscles to loosen up, "you can come in," I said as a yawn escaped my lips. I used the palm of my hand to block the yawn from spreading into the air.
"Hey," she said after opening and closing the door behind her. Her eyes then widened as they scanned me, my outfit only being a sports bra and a pair of boy shorts.
"Sorry, I was thinking about taking a nap, but then I remembered that you were coming over," I said as I got up from the bed and walked over to my closet. I picked up a pair of pyjama shorts from the pile of clothing, before slipping it on and turning back to face her, her eyes unsubtly checking me out. I let out a chuckle, before I walked over and snapped my fingers in front of her, "are you okay? You seemed to be staring too intently at my ass there," I wiggled my eyebrows, making her snap out of whatever trance she was in before her eyes widened again.
"N..noo...ummm...ugh," she stuttered making me laugh again.
"I'm fucking with you," I tapped her shoulder, before taking a seat back on my bed, "now what would you like me to help you with, Miss Reese?" She cleared her throat before dropping her bag down beside me on the bed.
"The quiz we had earlier," she said as she took out a folder with papers from her bag. I looked at the folder remembering that that I didn't complete the quiz. I let out a loud sigh before throwing myself back in a lying position on the bed and placed my hands over my face.
"You can finish the rest of the quiz before we start grading the rest," she informed, making me remove my hands from my face to look up at her.
"Really?" I asked, surprise evident in my voice.
She nodded which made me sit up as she handed me a paper, "hurry up before I change my mind," she humored before turning her gaze away from me.
I got up from the bed and went for my satchel that was lying on the floor to take out a pen to write with. I then took a seat at the desk and quickly finished off the rest of the questions.
"I'm done," I said after looking at what I had written.
"That was seriously three minutes," she said as she walked over to me and picked up the piece of paper. She looked over it before shaking her head.
"Why do you need Literature classes again?" She questioned looking at me. I shrugged before she walked over to the bed where she left the rest of quizzes, picked them up, walked back over to me and placed the pile on my desk, "you are very smart Kylie, I don't think you need to take Junior Year Literature at all."
I shook my head as I opened the folder which contained the unmarked quizzes, "I rather take it, I know some basic stuff, but I still have lots to learn."
"You just got full marks on a senior quiz, I think you can more than handle yourself."
"You mean by identifying figures of speech, isn't literature much more complicated than that?" I asked as I picked up the first paper.
"Have you ever done Literature before?" She questioned as she rested her body weight on my desk with her elbows.
"I did in my Junior year and that only lasted about two weeks before I dropped out of it."
"The teacher, right?" I nodded as I tapped my pen against the desk.
"Too anti-lgbt for my liking."
"Yeah, a lot of people are like that."
"Yes, sometimes it's hard to handle such situations, which makes it best to avoid them," I got up and stretched my arms, before checking the time on my watch. It was only 3:47 in the afternoon, so I decided to go grab something to eat from the kitchen downstairs.
"Gonna grab a snack from the kitchen before we start, wanna come?" She nodded and we both walked out of my room and down the stairs. As we walked into the kitchen, I heard my name being called, "yes, grandpa?" I saw the old man sitting in his armchair reading the newspaper.
"When did you get home from school? I didn't know you're home," he lifted his eyes off of the paper and onto us, "I let Ava in and she said she came to see you."
"I'm just helping her grade some papers," I said as I walked into the kitchen and straight to the fridge. I peered in and scanned the contents it held, before deciding on a pudding cup. I picked it up and closed the fridge, before turning my attention back to the two who were having a conversation.
"I see you have taken on some responsibilities, I'm proud of you," my grandfather said as I ripped open the lid of the plastic container and then opened the drawer next to the fridge to take out a spoon.
"Yeah, whatever gets me into Harvard," I mumbled as I took a spoonful of the chocolate goodness.
"Ava, would you like anything to drink? It seems as though Kay has no manners or hospitality," I rolled my eyes as I took another spoonful, before placing the spoon into the sink and throwing the rest of the pudding into the garbage can, "and wasteful as well," he added.
"Water will be fine," she said before my grandfather opened the fridge, took out a bottle of water and closed it.
He handed Ava the bottle of water before looking back at me, "I hope you're not giving Ava a hard time, I know you can be a handful sometimes," he said as he walked over to the pantry and grabbed a banana.
"When have I done anything rebellious, grandpa?" I questioned offended.
"Your mother has told me about your tattoos," he said making me groan.
"So what? Just because I want to put ink on my skin doesn't mean I am rebellious. At least I don't go fucking around like normal teenagers."
"Language Kylie, just because you're heading off to college soon doesn't mean you have any right to speak to me like that."
"Whatever, I have stuff to do," I grumbled as I walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into my room.
I realized that Ava followed me only after I threw myself onto my bed, "hey, he's just trying to help," she said as she closed the door behind her.
"Do you even know why he is like this? Why they are so concerned about me?" I grumbled as I buried my face in my pillow. I was frustrated, angry and sad, and having a minor breakdown in front of my teacher.
"Not really, he never said anything about it," she took a seat next to me on the bed and began running her fingers through my hair, just the way my mother did.
I let out a heavy sigh and looked at her, concern lingering on her facial features, "let's mark those papers," I said as I let out a deep breath. She seemed to want me to open up to her, but I wasn't willing to do that. My personal business was personal for a reason and I really didn't want another person to pity me.
"Sure," she retracted her hand and got off of the bed. I did the same and walked behind her toward the desk, grabbing my bean bag chair next to the desk and giving her the desk's chair. We graded the papers in silence, using the answer sheet which was not really needed. We soon finished and she was ready to leave. By then it was only 4:32 in the afternoon and I really wanted to take a nap to clear my head, before waking up later and taking a run.