My Lifeline

33

River's POV
THE PRESENT

I've accidentally left my earphones on my chair in class, so I tell Will to go on ahead of me while I turn back to get them.

I open the door, not realising that Mr Peters is still sat at his desk. He's holding his head in his hands, and his shoulders are bouncing.

"Oh, sorry. Is it okay if I get my earphones?"

Mr Peters lifts his head, showing off his red, watery eyes that spill tears down his cheeks. My lips part slightly at the sight. He seems embarrassed that I've caught him, so he wipes away his tears harshly and clears his throat.

"Hurry up."

My foot hesitates before taking a step forward and leading me to my chair that holds my earphones.

When I pick them up, I stare over at Mr Peters and examine his slumped position. My heart grows heavy when I see the sadness in his eyes and posture. I, like many others, forgot that teachers are real people. We always see him as a grumpy sod, but forget that there's things going on in his life that we can't see.

"Are you okay?" I ask him.

He forces a smile. I think it's the first time I've ever seen his lips curve upwards. "I'm fine. Get to your next class."

I smile sympathetically before turning around to reach the door, but my hand halts when it touches the cold metal handle.

"Why do you always pick on Will?" I ask, my heart drumming against my chest.

He hesitates before answering. "I'm his teacher. If he's misbehaving, I'm not going to sit back and allow him to disrupt my class."

"But he didn't disrupt it last week. He was rolling a cigarette, he always does it."

Mr Peters sighs and shakes his head as he stacks his books on his desk. "It's not appropriate to do that in class."

"We're in sixth form. It's different to mainstream." I take a deep breath. "He is allowed to do it."

"Not in my class."

"Mr Peters, Will is going through a lot. He has his reasons as to why he reacted that way last week. I'm not telling you have to do your job...I'm just asking that you try to understand. Will's never had a good relationship with a teacher before, mostly because they never try to help him, they just assume that he's a troublemaker."

He stays silent, listening to me speak, but refusing to make eye contact.

"I can tell that you're going through something, too. Wouldn't you just want someone to understand, instead of assuming things?"

His throat bobbles. "Get to class please, River."

Sighing in defeat, I leave the room and rejoin the other students in the corridor. I plug in my earphones and play the playlist that Will and I created.

Here With Me, by d4vd.

My cheeks are wide with a smile as I listen to the song and walk down the corridors, travelling to my next class where I'll be sat with Brains. He's growing on me, even though he's still extremely agitating. I finally feel a part of something. All of Will's friends immediately included me and made me feel welcome. I'm only growing closer and closer to them with each day that passes. Sometimes it's a lot to deal with, because they text a lot and want to meet. I'm not used to going out and communicating that much, so it makes me exhausted, and most of the time I'm having to reject their offers because my social battery is too low. They all seem understanding.