My Teacher, Louis Tomlinson

Chapter 3- False assumptions

Skye’s POV

I went to the sign up board just as lunch started. I hesitantly wrote my name on the list.

So basically, some eight teachers volunteer to each coach a team of students from the list. The teams practice a couple times and then play each other throughout the week, and the top two teams play for the win on Friday night. The system guarantees four games per team and a possible fifth if you qualify.

Four to five games of hell.

You see, I used to be a goalie around age 12. I was decent. I hated it though, because of how stressful it was. I quit because of one particular championship game. It went to penalty kicks, and I ended up having a panic attack between turns so someone else had to be goalie.

We lost.

It scarred me for life.

I have no idea why my parents want me to do this, but my dad actually woke up early this morning just to threaten me into signing up.

As I was heading back into the cafeteria to go sit down at my usual table and (not) eat alone, my name was called over the intercom. I was told to report to the office for a message.

My heart rate skyrocketed. What if someone had died? What if I was an orphan? What if my dad is coming for me? What if…

When I got there, though, they directed me to the counselor’s office. Oh god. This can’t be good.

“Hello Ms. Eaton.” Her sickly-sweet voice announced. “How are you today?”

“Fine.”

“Do you know why you’re here?”

No. Well, I have some suspicions, but nothing definite.

“No.”

“Well. I have been tipped off by someone that you may be depressed.”

Well okay then. First off, you can’t just look at someone and know they’re depressed. Unless someone saw my…

“There were reports of bruises and cuts on your arms.”

…arms. I sat there, staring her down, faking both confidence and surprise.

And silence. Silence is good. They can’t hold anything against me if I don’t say anything.

“Can I see your arms?”

I knew the best way to go is to just do it and make up excuses. So I shrugged and pulled up my sleeves. She gasped.

“Oh, no. Not all of this happened in one accident. I just had a rather unfortunate week.” I began my lie.

“Do you know that place on Triana Road… Pampered Pooch?”

She nodded.

“I work there after school. And this week, there is this one cat there named Crystal (Crystal? Really, Skye?) who is just one son of a bitch. And lemme just say, she does not do well with humans. Especially me.”

She nodded. Good. My lie is working.

“And this bruise,” I pointed to one large, hand shaped one, “Is actually from one of my coworkers grabbing me before Crystal tried to scratch my face off or something.”

“And these,” I pointed to some other smaller ones, “Are from my sister. Her room is being redone right now, so we’re sharing my bed, and she kicks in her sleep. And, she refuses to sleep with her head next to me, so her legs always end up right near my arms. And the rest are from miscellaneous encounters with various dogs and cats.”

She looked at me and smiled. “See, I knew you were fine.”

Sure you did, bitch.

I faked a laugh. “Yeah, I guess it looks pretty bad, doesn’t it?” I say, still holding out my arms.

Fear is a sign of weakness. Weakness is a sign of dishonesty. And for me, dishonesty is a sign of depression. She nodded and smiled again.

“Alright, if that’s all, you can go now. Here, I’ll write you a pass.” She quickly scribbled down a note and folded it, giving it to me.

I quickly got up and left.

Of course, I had to read the note. I had a strong suspicion that Mr. Tomlinson was behind all of this. Besides, he’s the only one that could have possibly seen my arms.

Louis,

I talked to Skylynn and she sounds absolutely fine! It turns out all of this is a misunderstanding. She’s really quite talkative, and funny! I appreciate your concern for your students, but you should really get to know them before you make harsh assumptions such as these.

Linda

So he did do this. Well that was close. But this should get him off my back. And his name is Louis. Interesting.

I knocked on the door a couple times and waited. I was only a few minutes late. Mr. Tomlinson answered, and instead of letting me in, he touched my shoulder and walked around me, shutting the door behind him so that we were in the hallway alone. “Hey, Skylynn.” He said. “Hello, sir.” I said. A look of concern crossed his face and he glanced down at my clothed arms. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, I quickly handed him the note. I watched him skim over it before he closed his mouth and looked back up at me skeptically.

“Umm…”

“I’m okay. Alright?” I said, a little harsher than I intended.

Then, I made a bold move. I moved past him and opened the door, quickly entering and sitting at my seat.

There.