Shame Shame Shame

Ch. 4

Veronica, Caleb, and I finished our yogurt but actually took Mrs. Moore's advice. Instead of leaving while we all are a little out of it, we'll wait a while. To pass the time, we talk about funny things that have happened in our lives. In the middle of a story Caleb is telling us about his brother breaking his arm at his 5th birthday party I interrupt. "Love the story Caleb but my blatter is about to explode. I'll be right back." I get up and quickly go to the bathroom.

I wash my hands, looking into the mirror and examine my tired looking face. The door opens making me look towards it to see who it is. Of course, it's the one and the only, Mrs. Moore. "Hi" she smiles "has the alcohol worn off yet?" Why is she still here? I've been here for at least an hour and a half and she got here not too long after we did.

"Yeah, but I kind of have a small headache now." "That's what you get. You shouldn't even be drinking" she acts serious. I grab some paper towels to dry my wet hands. "Yeah Yeah, don't act like a strict parent and give me some lecture, you're just my teacher" I say as I walk past her. As my hand touches the doorknob to the bathroom door, I feel her grab my other hand. Immediately I look back at her giving her a what the heck kind of look.

"Lexi, I'm just trying to help. I don't want you to get into any trouble because of it or get hurt" she says sounding genuinely concerned. "I think I'm old enough to take care of myself, and what do you care? I'm just your student, who you barley even know." I don't mean to come off as rude but why is she acting so concerned. Something about that is setting me off for some weird reason. I'm not used to having anyone look after me or be concerned about me anymore, so maybe that's why?

Mrs. Moore looks down so our eyes don't meet and I realize I did come off as rude when she was only concerned about me. "Sorry" I say quietly, but start to speak at a normal volume "that's just something my mom would have said when she caught me drinking." Now I'm the one that's looking away and trying to avoid contact.

A flashback of my mom catching me drinking with my friends plays through my mind. I remember that night I was so mad at her for yelling at me in front of my friends, but would do anything to go back to that night so I could see her again. A tear slips from my eye as I hear Mrs. Moore's voice "are you ok Lexi?" I shake my head no "not really." She pulls me into a hug, and surprisingly I hug back. She makes me feel safe which is weird since I barley know her.

My head rests on her shoulder as I let out a few more tears. "It's going to be okay. I know it's hard to deal with now, and I'm not going to lie and say the pain will go away, but I will say that it will get easier." I take in what she says and realize it has gotten a bit easier to deal with since when it actually happened, but ever since school started it's been on my mind a lot, since people constantly ask me about my parents.

I break the hug and look Mrs. Moore straight in the eyes. "You're right. It's gotten easier to deal with since it actually happened, but ever since school started it's like everyone asks me about my parents randomly for no reason. Who asks other students about their parents? I guess I'm just used to no one mentioning them to me since everyone in my home town knew not to" I say as I notice Mrs. Moore has a sad look in her eyes but also shows that she is actually listening to what I'm saying.

"I'm so sorry Lexi, I wish there was something I could do to make things better for you" she wipes away the tears on my face. "Ya know, I didn't even want to move to this stupid town. My grandparents thought it would give us all a fresh start but that's not what I wanted! First I lost my parents, then I had to leave all my friends behind. My grandparents made a fucked up decision, and just dragged me along with them without even asking me if I was ok with it." I rant to Mrs. Moore as if she was one of my old friends from back at home.

She does something that catches me off guard. I feel her arm slip around my waist and pull me close to her. Since I'm a little shorter than her I have to look up at her eyes. "What are yo-" she cuts me off. "This town isn't so bad. It'll start to grow on you soon." With my back arched so I'm not pressed up completely against her, I reply "I doubt that, everyone here seems obno-" again she cuts me off, but this time with her lips.

As she breaks the kiss I push away from her, taking a few steps back. My eyes searching the ground as I'm at a loss of words. "I'm so sorry Lexi" Mrs. Moore walks closer to me and grabs my hand. I don't stop her, but I'm not exactly sure why I'm not stopping her. "Umm, it-it's fine. I just wasn't expecting that" I still refuse to look at her face even though I know she wants me to.

"Maybe we should go back out there. Veronica and Caleb are waiting on me anyways, and I'm sure your husband is waiting on you" I slowly move my hand from her grip. "Yeah, you're right, but can I at least explain myself? I don't want to scare you off" she begs, so I'm assuming she thinks I'm mad about what she did? Like I told her, it's fine, I just wasn't expecting that. "Monday?" I look back at her as I open the door to leave the bathroom. "Okay....Sorry" she says quietly. "I said it's fine" I give her a small smile to let her know that I'm not mad, and shut the door.

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Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions about the story, I'd be happy to hear them! Also sorry for any spelling errors!