Never Worry About Me

Chapter 3: Confidence

At first, she just stood there, in shock, barely returning the hug, but later, she tightened her grip around my waist, making me lose my breath.

"T-thank you... Angelica." A hopeful tear ran down her face and onto my shoulder.

My eyes widened, but I didn't look up.

I didn't want to see my teacher cry. She was hurting... so much. But, I didn't know why. It made my heart ache for her. I wanted her to feel happy again.

I knew what true pain felt like. I knew how true sadness could deteriorate your soul.

And, in that moment, I wished that no one would have to go through that kind of pain ever again.

"I didn't expect you to hug me."

She wiped her tears from her face as she unwrapped one of her arms and held my chin in between her thumb and forefinger. She looked into my eyes and gave me a painful smile that made me want to cry, but I held it together.

"I'm supposed to be comforting you, yet you're the one comforting me." She let out the faintest laugh.

Not knowing what had possessed me in that moment, or why I had felt compelled to do so, I traced the outline of Katherine's jaw, admiring her perfect facial structure... and her.

"I don't want to see my teacher cry." I vocalized, with a confidence I didn't know I had.

She chuckled, lightly. "I must look really pathetic and childish to you right now..." She whined.

"No. You don't, Katherine. You're just being human."

"I'm being a child..." She persisted.

"Okay... maybe you are acting like one," I mocked playfully.

The way Ms. Hale's eyes seem to light up with her laughter she half-hid with her hand made my heart flutter, subconsciously.

"Angelica, was that a joke? Did you just joke around me?" She arched a brow. "When I first saw you, you were so shy. You looked like you would be running away screaming if you weren't required to sit in my classroom."

I blushed a deep red. I was shy. I've always been, no matter who I was around.

But, in that moment, something in me, a part of me that didn't worry, the part of me that I didn't know existed, came out.

She brought it out of me.

"I am shy." I wasn't denying it.

She stared at me intently as if taking mental notes on what I was going to say next.

"But, with you..."

"You bring the best out of me," we spoke in unison.

The coloring in my cheeks deepened as I heard her agree with me.

Whatever this was, whatever was happening between us, it was clear to me then that she felt it too.

It was as if the universe wanted us to meet. But, like this? It was a cruel game we had to play. I was a student, barely over eighteen, and a devoted Christian, yet I was put into a life that didn't fit me... and I was growing too close to someone I barely knew, but shouldn't know on a personal level.

And, no matter how much I longed to have a deep and affectionate connection with someone, I had to remind myself that she was my teacher and that it would be wrong if we were to become friends... or more than that.

I had to let go of what I had searched for, and it broke my heart.

I broke our eye contact as I released her face from my grasp.