"Well we're going to have to cancel some tour dates then, now will we?" Kurt's mocking tone rings through into the telephone. There's a pause as he listens to the person on the other line. He takes a deep breath and raises his voice. "Kaitlyn is not fucking okay right now; I'm not going--"
I have to exit the room to get away from the yelling. I go into my closet and put on a dress that's appropriate for a school. I then put on my shoes and walk downstairs to where Kurt is again.
He's still yelling into the phone. I'm worried that he's going to have to leave to go on tour despite what I did. I know that I'm not going to do it again, but I want him here with me.
I gently place a hand on his shoulder. "Hey Kurt, I have to go to the school, alright?"
He turns around at me and kisses me harshly on the lips, cigarettes consuming my taste buds. "If they give you any shit for your arm, just call me okay?"
I chuckle. "Okay, Kurt."
"I wonder if I should go there with you. They won't say anything if I'm there."
"Because you're a rock star?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow. A lot of the time I forget that he's the most popular celebrity in the world. It seems unreal, that he's with me, but I try not to think about it. It makes me feel worthless.
"I'll drop you off," He puts the phone back to his ear. "I'm not doing the tour and that's fucking final."
He slams the phone back down on the receiver and walks over to his shoes, putting his Converse on. He's still wearing his pajamas, but that's what I love the most about him. He doesn't care what other people think about him.
"Are you sure?" I ask. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"I'll be fine," He ties his other shoe after finishing the first one. "Besides, I have to pick up Frances from Courtney anyway."
The thought of him going to Courtney's alone sends shivers down my spine. I know how she is. She's probably going to try to seduce him as soon as he gets there.
He sees the doubt in my face and smiles, walking towards me. "I'm not going to fuck her, alright?"
"Promise me."
"I promise. Now come on."
I drive with Kurt in the passenger seat to the school. His eyes were on my bandage the whole time we were in the car.
I park in a parking spot, then turn off the car and grab my bag, slamming the door shut behind me. Kurt gets out of the car, looking ridiculous in his pajamas.
I chuckle and run to his side, clutching his hand. I like that he wants to come into the school and see where I work--even though those aren't his intentions.
My hands begin to run clammy as we enter the building. If people ask about my arm, I'm going to have to lie to them.
All eyes are on Kurt and I as we walk past all the teachers. They can't believe their eyes. The Kurt Cobain is at their school.
Kurt and I discussed what I would say about my wrist last night, after "making up". I would tell the teacher that I sprained my wrist.
"Hey, where were Liza and the girls yesterday?" Kurt asks me. I'm surprised that he even noticed that they were gone.
I shrug my shoulders. "I just woke up and they were gone. She does that a lot though, so I don't question it. Some days she'll be there and some days she won't." As we approach my classroom, I halt. "Here it is."
He looks at me with a sympathetic expression. "K, you'll be fine. I'm right here."
He opens the door for me and I walk through it, making eye-contact with Mr. Fields. He requested a while ago that I called him Eric, but I always forget to.
None of the students are in the class yet. The school day hasn't even started, but Mr. Fields and I have to get the classroom ready for them.
As soon as he looks up, his eyes land on Kurt and widen, almost like they're going to pop out of his socket. "K--K--Kurt C--C--"
"Cobain," Kurt finishes the sentence for him.
He chuckles and then looks at me. "Ah, that's right. You've mentioned you're with him a couple times before." His eyes then land on my wrist. "What happened?"
"She sprained her wrist," Kurt answers for me, knowing that I'd probably mess up because of how nervous I am. "She's fine, but she has to be gentle with it."
His eyes furrow. "Kaitlyn, why do you have a bandage for it? Why not a cast?"
Somehow, I quickly come up with a lie. "Because it's all we had. And it's fine; it's not like it's broken or anything. I can still use it."
He nods. "I'm sorry that happened. I'm sure it was really painful."
"It was," Kurt answers very shortly then turns to me. "I have to go get Frances. Are you going to be alright?"
I smile. "Yeah. Being around the kids will help me a lot, too."
"Call me if you need anything," He kisses me. "I'll be home by the time you get back."
"Wait, wait," I say. "We drove the same car. You're going to have to come and pick me up."
He groans. "That kind of ruins my plans."
"Your plans? What plans?"
"I can drop her off if you need," Mr. Fields offers. "It's the least I could do for all the help you've given me lately."
"It's her job," Kurt replies in a very snarky tone. "She gets paid to help you. Kaitlyn, I'll just come and pick you up. What time do you guys get out at?"
"2:30."
"Okay, I'll be here at that time, then. Bye, love you."
"I love you too," I smile as he walks out of the classroom, then turn to Mr. Fields. "Sorry if he was being rude. He's been in a mood lately."
"Oh no no, that's fine. He's allowed to."
"Mr. Fields--" I begin, but he cuts me off.
"Please, Eric."
I sigh. "Eric, what do you need me to do?"
"Well, judging by your wrist, there's not much that you can do. So why don't you just take a seat and--"
"No, I'm fine," I assure him. "I can still do things. It doesn't hurt too bad since I hurt it after school Friday. It's had a couple days to heal."
He flashes me a smile. "Are you sure, Kaitlyn?"
I nod. "Yeah. I'm sure."
He opens his mouth to speak, but the bell takes over, announcing that it's time for school to start.
--------------------------
I look through the answers on this particular student's answer sheet. He did not answer any of these questions correctly, which is peculiar because he's a smart student.
I graze through the students sitting down and see him sitting in the back, working on the worksheet Mr. Fields gave them.
Rising from my desk, I walk over to him and kneel beside him. "Hey Gere."
He looks over at me, confusion plastered all over his face. "Hi Ms. Watkins."
"How have you been doing?"
"Fine. Why? Did I do something wrong?"
I want to tell him 'no', but that would be a lie. "Can you come by my desk really quick?"
He gets up from his seat and follows me to my desk. I don't want to embarrass him in front of all of his classmates by asking him why he answered all of the questions wrong.
I take a seat and show him the worksheet, pointing to the "0" I put at the top of the sheet. He tries to act surprised, but I know that he knew that was going to happen.
"Hey!" Eric suddenly barks. "Everyone, go back to doing your work. There's nothing to see here." He then winks at me, assuring that he has everything under control.
I return my attention back to Gere and lower my voice to a whisper, even though all the other students are talking and wouldn't be able to notice us. "Why did you get all of these wrong?"
"I guess I--I---I just didn't know them!" He exclaims, really enunciating every single syllable.
"That's not true," I tell him. "I know that you're a smart kid."
He sighs, wiping his hands on his face. "I was just really tired that day and I wasn't thinking propellerly--"
"Properly," I correct him.
"Properly. I wasn't thinking properly." Then, his face bursts into a smile. "Isn't that one of our vocab words?"
I grin widely. He's really smart. "Yes. Just hang on one second." I knock on Eric's desk like I normally do to get his attention. "Hey, can Gere re-do his worksheet? He wasn't thinking properly because he was really tired."
He sighs. "We don't allow re-do's."
"Please," I whisper, trying to signal with my eyes that he needs this.
The bell rings for lunch and every kid exclaims out of glee, grabbing their lunchbox and lining up at the door.
Eric sighs. "Fine, fine. But he'll need to do it during lunch tomorrow."
"Thank you," I turn to Gere. "You hear that? Lunch tomorrow."
He groans, not understanding why he has to re-do it. In his mind, all he's thinking is that he's missing lunch now. He walks over to his desk and grabs his lunchbox, then gets in the back of the line.
"Do you want to walk them to the cafeteria today?" Eric asks me. "Or do you want me to?"
"You can," I tell him.
He rises. "Alright, start walking!"
They all walk out of the door, the silence filling the room quickly. I look down at my arm, feeling ashamed that I let myself get to this point. I should be lucky for the life that I have and yet here I am hurting myself and now lying to everyone around me about it.
If they were to find out I actually cut myself, I would lose my job. They don't want a mentally ill person near children. That's just not appropriate.
All of a sudden, Eric returns back in the classroom.
"Well that was quick," I chuckle.
He reaches over and grabs his coat off of his chair. "What are you doing for lunch today?"
I shrug. "I didn't bring one."
"Why don't we just go grab something really quick? Don't worry, not like a date. It's just a co-worker thing. Or, if you wanted, I could even bring something back for you."
"I like that option better," I smile and then the door flings open, slamming against the wall. I jerk my head over to where it is and see Kurt holding Frances's hand.
"Ready to go?" Kurt asks me, but it's more of a demand than a question.
Frances looks over at me and runs to me. I pick her up, putting a lot of pressure on my wrist and wincing as it feels like my wounds are spreading open, but the doctor told me that that's normal and it'll feel like it at times, but it's not actually happening.
"Kurt, what are you doing here?" I ask him. He's still wearing his pajamas from earlier.
"We just need to go, okay?" He's obviously very angry. What about is something that I don't know. "Please."
"Kurt, I have work and--"
"God, Kaitlyn, please!" His voice cracks and I can tell he's about to cry. "I just need to get the fuck out of here right now and I want you to come with me."
I turn to look at Eric. "Can you keep an eye on Frances really quick?"
"Now you're giving my daughter to your fucking--"
"Stop, Kurt," I lower my voice and set Frances down in one of the student's seats. "Eric, just make sure she doesn't fall or anything."
"Oh," Kurt scoffs. "You guys are on a first-name basis now. Do you have his number, too?"
I rush towards Kurt and open the door, pushing him out of it. "Kurt, what the hell?"
"No, no, why don't you just go stay with Eric?"
Something bad happened to him to make him react like this. I immediately scan his arms to make sure there's no track marks. And judging by the way he's talking, he's not drunk or high.
He's just upset.
Worry fills my eyes as I continue to examine him. "What happened?"
He rolls his eyes. "I can't have you ask me that right now. I can't fucking tell you because it makes me too angry."
"Okay," I flash him a reassuring smile, proud of him that he realized that. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, don't worry. Where are you wanting to go?"
"Just to a different town. Somewhere far from our house. I don't want to go to Seattle though. What if we go to Shelton? Let's go to Shelton, K."
"Shelton? What's in Shelton?"
"Nothing, that's the point. We just need to stay in a hotel for the night, okay?"
Something obviously really bad happened to Kurt and he won't tell me what. Right now, I'm just doing what he thinks is best for him.
I glance back into the classroom, realizing that that means I'm going to have to leave early. But I don't care. I need to help Kurt. "Okay. Let's go to Shelton."
We go back inside the classroom and Kurt grabs Frances. "I'm stealing your assistant."
"I'm sorry, Eric," I say to him. "Kurt really needs me right now. Something happened and--"
"Is everything alright?" Eric asks.
"Yes, yes, but we just need to deal with it. Is it alright if I leave?"
"Um, I don't know if--I mean, sure, yeah. Will you be back tomorrow?"
"I'll try, but I don't know."
Kurt tugs on my arm and we run out of the school, hand-in-hand, to the parking lot. I buckle Frances in her car seat after grabbing her from Kurt as he starts the car. I get into the passenger seat and he drives off, holding my hand as we do so.