Assisting Victoria

Part Twenty-One

            Tori pulled me aside the next day in 3rd hour. Here it goes, I thought, my life is coming to an end… right here, right now. I walked into her office slowly, not really wanting to go with her for once.

            “What happened to you yesterday?” she asked. “I didn’t come down after school?”

            I didn’t know what to tell her. I couldn’t tell her that I overheard Mitch blabbing my secret to her. If she wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was I.

            “Sorry, I got caught up in another class. I’m sorry,” I lied.

            “It’s okay. Can I expect you to be here today?”

            I nodded.

            “Yeah. Of course.”

            I walked away after that, unsure of what to think. Although, I did notice that she wasn’t appearing to be sad anymore. That was either really good for me, or just a coincidence. I couldn’t tell.

            Either way I showed up after school as always. The next concert coming up was our spring concert. It was also the final one for the year, and my final concert altogether. It was sad to think about it. Next year I’d be in college. Tori will probably have forgotten about me by then. I could no longer stay after and help her.

            “Excited to be graduating?” she asked as she handed me a box down from one of the shelves in the band room.

            “Sure I guess.”

            “You guess?”

            I set the box down on the floor and began to pull out the folders that were inside. More music. I had never noticed how much music our school actually owned. They could make a new library. A large one even.

            “I don’t know. I’m just going to miss some parts I guess.”

            She smiled at me. A real smiled this time.

            “But college is so exciting. Trust me, once you move on from here you’ll forget all about high school.”

            I wasn’t so sure about that. I knew I wouldn’t forget about Tori.

            “I guess,” I lied anyway.

            There was really no use arguing. I didn’t want to explain to her why I didn’t want to leave. Although, I believed she should have already known, unless she was thinking that maybe Mitch was just up to another one of his mean jokes. That brightened my mood a little. Maybe she hadn’t even believed him.

            “I think I’m excited for you actually. I mean, I remember back when I was graduating. All I wanted to do was get out of my hometown and never come back.” She laughed a little. “Are you going to a university?” she asked, almost sounding too happy about that thought.

             I wasn’t sure that I liked how she seemed so excited. I mean yeah, it was a big part of my life, and a huge accomplishment, but still. I shook my head.

            “I’ll be staying here for two more years.”

            “Cool. Then where do you plan on going?”

            “I’m not sure yet… not too far though.”

            Unlike her I didn’t want to get out of town. I wanted to move out of my parents’ house, but that was about as far as I’d go. I liked it where I was too much.