This is love ~ Elmax

IV - Speak up

~ Max POV ~

When I walk over to the classroom with Will and El I noticed El was looking around a lot. She was very off today. She was worrying so much about what people thought of her, that she was cautious about everything. I wanted to make her feel better and tell her that she didn't have to care about all of those people, but I promised her we would talk at home. I just tried to distract her with fun talks as much as possible together with Will. How badly I wanted to distract her with something else, but I can't. And it was already killing me.

The first real class we have today is literature. The days I was at school and not depressed at home last year, I really enjoyed this class and art the most, so I was pretty stoked. I really liked poems and drawing, although I'd never admit it. We had my favorite teacher for this class, Mr Steward. He was super chill and interesting so I was excited to see him again. I sometimes sat with him at lunch since I wanted to be alone and he let me hang in his classroom whenever he had no class to teach. El and Will were talking and walking in front of me. I couldn't help, but feel that El was more distant from me then normal, but I must be imagining it.

They both walk into the classroom as I follow them. "Max Mayfield. Is that really you?" I heard a familiar voice speak to me. I chuckle as I meet Mr Steward his eyes. "Yes it really is me." I grin as he smiles. "I'm glad you're back, I really missed your mastermind in my class." He chuckles. "Oh shut up, I'm not at all a mastermind in any way." I chuckle as I cross my arms, looking at him. Normally I wouldn't say shut up to a teacher, but Mr Steward was different, as I said he was chill. "Oh your answers are always the most interesting and the most real once of the class. So yes, I'd say you're mastermind worthy." He chuckles as he nods. I shook my head with a smile. "Thanks Mr, Steward." I reply softly as I walk to the back of the class to my old seat. El sat next to me and Will in front of me. "Always those redheads who are the teachers pet." I hear a girl whisper to another girl with a soft chuckle in her voice. When I look at them with squinted eyes they quickly look away. I roll my eyes as I meet El her eyes after. "Are you okay?" She mouthed as she looks at me. I nod with a shrug. "I don't care, it's not even true, so whatever." I whisper as I grab my book out of my bag and lay it on the table as El did the same.

"Good afternoon class. For the once who don't know me yet, I'm Mr Steward and I'll be teaching you all about literature and the meaning behind it. But, I like to keep things fun, so we will start with a fun little activity. I'll be reading you a poem and I will ask you to write down what that poem means to you. What it's meaning could be, in your eyes. We all understand?" He asks with a friendly smile as he picks up a book from his desk. We all nod as some looked excited and some already looked bored. I was instantly excited since I liked to write down my feelings as cryptic codes or messages. I saw poems that way too. They are just cryptic messages filled with a story and feelings. "Okay, here we go. This poem is by a famous female poet. She's called Emily Dickinson. Have any of you heard of her before? Show of hands?" The teacher asks as only me, El, Will and two other people show our hands. "Good, so some of you are already familiar with her work. She's one of the first female published poets." He explains as I already saw some boys in the classroom roll their eyes and fake yawn. It made me so pissed to see that whenever we talked  about a female who really made a change in history or a female in general, that the boys instantly act like assholes, like they only have a saying in the world and not us women. Okay I may be a feminist , but don't tell Nancy or Robin. They will never leave me alone again.

"I saw that eye roll Dave, if you keep that up, you can go straight to detention. You're here to learn about these incredible people. We don't have a space for that aditude in my class. Keep that in mind for next time. All of you. I have one ground rule in my class and that is DON'T JUDGE. Just remember that and we'll have the best time in these classes alright?" Mr Steward explain as a smile grew on my face. This is why he is my favorite teacher.