Our Fading Stars

10. Surprise

Pete's favorites songlist
Track 6: Silver- Wham bam

Tiana's POV

"Ms. Kings, your attitude is getting... rather unpleasant these days for a newbie here in school," Mr. Evans looked at me with a disappointed look.

I was in the teacher's lounge, just me and him. The room seemed terrifying, being alone with a teacher in it. It felt like the cushiony sofa was going to eat me up.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again."

"What do you want to major in, Tiana?" he asked, giving me a piece of candy from the flower cup on his desk. It didn't suit him at all. His bald head and striking grey eyes made him seem very kind and wise, but he wasn't the kind to have flower cups on his desk.

I hadn't decided what I wanted to do in the future yet. Heck, I didn't even know what I wanted to do today. I was busy living through one day each, and it was enough to get me exhausted every night.

"I haven't really thought about it yet. Maybe music?" I popped the candy into my mouth.

"Do you play an instrument?"

Why does he keep asking me these questions?

"No."

"Do you sing?"

"Nope."

"Dance?"

"Um... I guess a little? I danced for the first time at a party a couple of days ago..."

"Rap?"

"Oh, definitely. I'm a rapper. I've got golden teeth," I said, my voice full of sarcasm.

"Tiana, your future is a serious matter that you should think about these days. You're in highschool now. There should be something you're interested in." Mr. Evans sighed loudly.

"I like music. But I'm not really good at it." I laughed nervously.

"Clearly," Mr. Evans puffed out as he looked into the computer screen. "Is there something that you'd like to speak with me about?" he asked again.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He shrugged. "You seem to always have lots of things on your mind. You could share them with me, I'd be happy to help you out."

I did have lots of things on mind. All the time. Nightmares, Peter, song lyrics, friends, what to do when I got home, what to doodle during history class, and so on. None that I wanted to share with Mr. Evans though.

"I'll pass." I smiled slightly.

"You can call me any time, Tiana. There may be a time when you need someone that doesn't know you well." Mr. Evans gave me his name card. I took it, and held it in my hands, wondering if I would ever call the numbers printed onto this small piece of paper. Actually, Mr. Evans would probably be the last person I would want to talk about myself with. It was just awkward.

"Thanks," I said, pretty sure that I would throw this into the corner of my desk, and leave it there untouched for years.

I sauntered out of the teacher's lounge, ignoring Mr. Evans' humming a song from Pete's favorites. When I opened the door to the detention classroom and sat down, I could see that detention was not very bitter at all. It was actually quite funny.

"Please stop poking my cheek," Emma groaned at Charlie.

"No can do," he grinned and pushed his finger into her cheek again. "Such plushy things need to be poked."