English Is Flammable (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 39

(Shay’s Point of View)

A few days went by and I started to feel a little better.  Will had wanted to stay home with me the last couple days but I convinced him that’d it would look too fishy if he did.  Someone was bound to make the connection.  

Instead what he would do more often than not was as soon as his class was over, he’d leave and come home early, usually picking up lunch for us on the way.  When he got back, he’d bring my work from all of my classes, then he’d help me with it, and then when we finished I’d help him grade papers or something.

We were almost done reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Will was prepping us for writing the final essay on it.  The nice thing about this whole situation was that I got a bunch of private tutoring.  Don’t go getting all weird or anything, that’s all it was, no extra stuff, as Will still would barely touch me or walk within a foot of me.  

Anyways, today was Friday and I got to go back to school.  I had to have Will hook my bra and help me put a shirt on, but other than that, things were pretty okay.  Oh, I also had to have him tie my shoes for me, bending over is not a good idea.  

So here I was, dressed in a pair of jeans, a long sleeved black v-neck, my grey Vans, tape on my ribs to hold everything in place, and Advil in my pockets, and I was ready for school.  Will had Dani drive me, saying that he didn’t want me driving myself for whatever reason, so and because it would look weird if he did, this is how things ended up.  

I opened the doors slowly, not walking too fast, just moving slowly so I didn’t jostle anything.  As soon as I stepped into the hallway, the huge crowd of kids parted like the Red Sea, leaving a big gap for me to walk through.  

I plastered on a smile through the pain in my chest, and continued forward.  

“Shay, did you really break a rib?”  Some guy asked.

“Nope, I broke four of them.”  I responded.  Everyone that heard just stared at me with their mouths wide open.  I made it to my locker, Jere standing there, probably having been waiting for me since about eight o’clock this morning.  He looked up when he saw me and smiled.  

I smiled back to him as I opened my locker and put my stuff in it.  Jere was waiting for me to say something.  When I didn’t he stepped closer.

“Can I hug you, or will I break something else?”  He asked as he looked me up and down, looking for signs of pain.  I shook my head.

“You can hug me, just be gentle.”  I warned him as he opened his arms.  I stepped into them and breathed in a deep sigh, then let it out.  He rubbed my back lightly as we just stood there hugging, looking like two people who hadn’t seen each other in years.

“What exactly is wrong with you?  I’ve heard so many different versions of the story I thought I’d just wait and ask you.”

“I have four broken ribs, two cracked ones that didn’t break all the way through, and three bruised ones.”  He winced and frowned at me.

“God, I broke that one in sophomore year and I was out crying like a baby for a week.  How are you not doubled over in pain?”  He asked, his eyes wide.  I lifted my shirt so you could see where all of the tape was.  He gasped, probably from the bruising.

“Will taped me up this morning so I should be okay for a while.  I’ll probably be hurting pretty bad by the time lunch comes around, though.”  I told him, frowning a little.  This whole thing was such a pain in the ass.

“I can’t believe all of this.  What happened anyways?”  He asked curiously.

“Kelly was supposed to support me and when she didn’t, I had nowhere to put my foot and I fell off a pyramid.  I don’t know what it is about that girl, but there’s something not quite right about her.”  I said quietly, as not to be overheard.  I really had come to the conclusion the Kelly didn’t even try to support me.