This time, my dream had to do all about numbers. Actually, three numbers. Eight, fourteen and twenty-two. The dream caused me dizziness, so I was in a bad mood when I woke up. As soon as I was prepared for school, I went downstairs. The house was silent and my Granny didn't appear to be there. Then I noticed a note on the fridge "I've gone to the cemetery. I will come back by 3." So, I headed to school, eating a chocolate cupcake. I just love the fresh air in the morning. It's so resuscitative.
Arriving at school I saw Elena, Bonnie and Stefan talking. But, Bonnie left quickly, so I followed her after greeting Stefan and Elena, who greeted me back.
"Hi, Bonnie how are you?"
"Good. How about you?"
"I'm fine. What happened back there with Stefan and Elena?"
"Nothing. I just left to search for Caroline, because she doesn't answer to her phone."
"Bonnie?"
"Ok, I touched Stefan and I had a really bad feeling. I don't know what was it, but it was really bad. And since Stefan is now Elena's boyfriend-"
"Wait what?"
"Boyfriend. You didn't know?"
"No, not at all. Oh my God! I'll kill Elena for not telling me."
"Oh, she told me this morning, if it helps."
"Ok, maybe I won't kill her. Instantly. But what you said about this bad feeling?" I asked her, remembering the scene I saw when I touched Stefan.
"Nothing. Can you please forget it?"
"If you want me to..."
We were still outside the building when I saw Tyler looking with his classic evil-arrogant look at Stefan and Elena.
"Hey, look." I said to Bonnie, who did as I said.
Tyler took the ball from Matt and threw it at Stefan. I may not be an expert on football or science, but the ball would hit him right on the head. And it was going to be painful. But, nobody expected what followed. Stefan turned around very, very fast and caught the ball. And when I say very fast, I mean VERY fast. What was going on with him? He threw the ball back to Tyler, who took a step back, as he caught the ball. The throw must have been quite powerful. You should have see, Tyler's face. Nobody had kicked his ass like that. Ten points to Stefan!
The bell rang and we headed to history. Oh, why do I have to stand him the whole year? Damn!!! Well, I was looking around again, completely uninterested to the lesson. I was distracted though, by Tanner who asked Elena a question about a date or something. She obviously didn't know the answer, so Stefan –the perfect boyfriend- answered for her.
"Thank you, Ms. Gilbert." Mr. Tanner said to him, along with the classroom's laughter.
"Anytime." Stefan replied with a smirk. That caused my laughter too.
"The fall of the Berlin Wall."
"1989" Stefan replied. "I'm good with dates sir." He added.
"Are you? How good?" he asked with a smirk forming on his face.
Oh! That was Tanner's I'm going to kick your ass look. Stefan you have better be something above excellent at dates. He mentioned some historical facts and Stefan answered correctly.
"Korean War."
"1950 and 1953"
"Ha! It ended in '52."
"Actually, sir, it was '53." Stefan seemed very sure. I hoped he was right. Tanner turned around to face Stefan with a how you dare doubt me look. Or at least seemed so.
"Look it up, somebody! Quickly!" he ordered. Jake was the first to find the answer.
"It was 1953." Tanner was speechless.
5 million points to Stefan. The whole classroom applaud him. I was the first to clap. Tanner surely noticed that. He gave a... proud, somebody would say, look at Stefan.The bell rang.
"You are free to live." I stood up, took my belongings and headed to the door. "Not you Ms. Gold."
Shit! I looked at Bonnie who was waiting for me at the door. Go, I formed the word with my mouth, before turn around to face Tanner.
"There is a particular purpose you needed to see me, Mr. Tanner?" I said in the most politely way, I could.
"Well, I wanted to have a talk with you, before talking with your grandmother."
"Have I done something bad that you need to see my grandmother?"
"I'll be straight Ms. Gold. You are one of the best students I have ever had. You're fair-minded and you constantly try to find the root cause of everything. Mr. Green also speaks very highly of you, as well as, all the other teachers. The problem with you, as far as I'm concerned, is that you don't participate in the lesson. Why are you doing that? At tests you are always excellent. I want to know what's wrong." I sighed.
"It would be better not to discuss this."
"And why that?"
"It would be better trust me."
"Sorry, Ms. Gold, but I want to know."
"Can you handle the truth?" I asked him sarcastically.
"Yes. Go on."
"Ok, I'll be straight as well. I'm not very fond of history, although I have no difficulty in remembering dates and facts. The problem is that I don't like you."
"Pardon me?"
"Sorry, sir, but this is the truth. You are behaving so arrogantly that it hits my nerves. You act like you know everything and always look down on us. Teacher's duty is to help his student see the truth, regardless the lesson. Not to judge them or make them seem like idiots. Well, probably, I'll be in detention after that, but sorry that's my opinion." His jaw had hit the ground and that made me really happy. I wouldn't be happy for long, I was sure of that.
"Cassie.."
Wait! Did I hear him calling me with my first name? He saw my expression, which definitely showed astonishment.
"You know my first name?" I asked looking at him wide-eyed.
"Yes, Cassie, I know your first name. I'll be honest. I'm surprised. And shocked. Nobody had ever the courage to talk to me like that, all these years I'm teacher."
"You're very creepy sometimes." I added. How much worse could my detention be?
"You are very honest though."
"How many?"
"How many what?"
"How many hours I'll have of detention?"
"Zero." He replied.
"What? I've talked to you like that and you don't give me even a single hour of detention?"
"No. As I said you had been honest. And honesty is something I value. You are free to leave." He said sitting on his desk.
"Are you sure?" I insisted, still looking at him shocked.
"Yes. Goodbye."
"Bye." I mumbled and got out of the classroom not able to believe what had happened.
I found Bonnie sitting on the grass.
"You won't believe what happened." I explained everything at her, before she could say anything.
"Wait, wait, wait. He allowed you to leave, after you talked to him like that, without giving you detention? You have been very, very, very lucky."
"I agree."
"Will you come at the practice later?"
"I'll come, but I won't watch cheerleaders' practice. I'm going to watch the football practice. I just love seeing Tanner pretend to be tough." She laughed.
"As you wish."
And so I did. I greeted the girls of the cheerleader team and headed to the tiers. I was a quite good cheerleader, but I couldn't stand Caroline as a captain, so I didn't even went for it. Elena and Bonnie tried to convince me to do so, but with no result. That's me, I guess. When I decide to do or not to do something, I won't change my mind under no circumstances.
There was Stefan sitting and watching the practice.
"Hey Stefan." I greeted him, while sitting next to him.
"Hi Cassie. How are you doing?"
"Fine. How are you feeling after the victory against Tanner?"
"Nothing in particular." I laughed.
"You should be happy. I told him he is arrogant and a bad teacher, and he didn't gave me detention. That's a victory. And I'm really happy about it."
"Really?"
"Yes. You should see his face." He gave me a smirk.
"I want to be at the football team." He said.
"What?" I yelled. Tanner heard me, because he turned around and gave me a look.
"Are you insane? You want to get yourself killed?"
"You are exaggerating."
"Look, Stefan, under other circumstances, I would say 'go for it'. But, with Tanner as a coach... well how to state this? He probably wants to see you have your ass kicked after what happened. Are you really sure you want to do that?"
"Yes." he replied with voice full of determination.
"Ok, go for it." And so he did. Good luck Stefan.
As soon as Stefan left to change, Charlotte came and sat by me.
"Hey, Cassie how are you doing?"
"Good. And you?"
"Excellent."
"Why are you so happy?"
"Well, the football practices have just started."
"And you want to see the boys practice?"
"Not exactly." "Ok, please tell me you don't have a crush on Tyler."
"Tyler? What? Of course not. I'm not an idiot."
"Good for you." I said grabbing a sandwich from my bag.
"Do you want some?"
"No thanks, I'm on a diet."
"Your body is fine. You don't need it."
"Well, I want to be beautiful."
"For who?"
"Nobody."
"Charlotte, please. It's obvious that you have a crush on somebody." She didn't answer so I took a bite of my sandwich.
"I'm in love with Mr. Tanner." She said out of the blue. I stopped mid-bite and stared at her with wide eyes.
"You are joking, right?" She shook her head.
"No, I'm not." I put the sandwich I was holding back to its plastic bag and then turned to look at her, with a very serious expression on my face.
"Do you have any idea what does this mean?" She had a puzzled expression on her face. She looked really cute when she was trying to think.
"No..." She said in the end and I sighed at her innocence.
"You are not allowed to have any other kind of relationship with him, other than the teacher – student relationship."
"I know that!" She said louder than she had to. I gave her a look, while my gaze shifted to the direction of Tanner. Thankfully, he seemed to have no idea what we were talking about.
"Why? Why him?" She shrugged.
"Because... He is a good person. At the first day of my school, I was alone and lost. Naturally I'm a very shy person and he helped me overcome this obstacle and become more outgoing and more confident about myself. He is a great teacher, but above all he is a great man." She finished and I was left speechless.
I didn't completely agree with her, but it was not my job to judge her. The only thing I could do was advise her.
"Look, Charlotte... Your situation is complicated and difficult. I understand the way you are feeling, but I want you to be careful. You know already that nothing can happen between you two, while you are still a student. And besides, I doubt sees you that way. I don't want to see you having your heart broken." She sighed.
"I know. I know all that. I have thought about everything you just said myself more times than you can imagine. It's just... I can't let go. I just can't... I don't know maybe it's the lack of any guys interested in me or something else, but let me reassure you that I would never do anything to bring him in a difficult position. I'm not that selfish." I nodded.
"I know Charlotte. You are too innocent to act like this. What I am afraid for is your heart."
"I believe that at some point, I'll get over him, but... for the time being, I'm content with what I have." I took her hand in mine.
"If you feel that way... But, be careful, ok?"
"Ok." She replied nodding.
We didn't exchange a word after that. We just sat and watched the football practice. When it was over, we said our goodbyes and parted ways. I didn't know how to feel about what Charlotte had told me. To me it was completely insane to love a guy a lot older than you and especially a teacher. But, how was I to judge? I was just a high school student that didn't even have a boyfriend in her life!
"How was the practice?" I asked Bonnie.
"Just fine, as always.
"What happened? You seem upset." I shrugged.
"Just something Charlotte told me." I said not wanting to give away much.
"Well, what did she tell you? Did she offend you in any way?"
"No, no, no." I replied quickly.
"Charlotte is a very good person. She would never talk bad about some person. Look, the matter is a little sensitive and I've promised her not to say anything, so..." Bonnie smiled.
"I understand. Don't worry about it. It's not your secret to share." I nodded thankful I had such an understanding friend.
"What are you drawing?" I asked her wanting to change the subject.
"Oh, nothing special."
"Eight, fourteen and twenty-two?"
"Yes, I'm obsessed with them. I don't know why."
"Well, I'm telling you that I'm obsessed with these numbers too."
"Really. We should play the lottery." I suggested with a smirk. Bonnie shot daggers at me.
"Fine..." I mumbled raising my hands in surrender.
I returned home after that. My Granny was waiting me at the kitchen.
"Hi, honey, how was your day?"
"Extremely funny."
"Oh, that's a change. And may I ask why your day was so funny?"
"Because, before even start the first period, Stefan humiliated Tyler, but Tyler tried to humiliate Stefan first. And then Stefan again, left Tanner speechless by proving him wrong about some dates."
"Why I have the sense there are much more than you have already said?"
"Ok, you caught me. I told Tanner that he is arrogant and a bad teacher, but not directly. The weird thing is that he didn't give me detention, because he valued my honesty."
"Cassandra Marie Christa Gold, how dare you speak to a teacher of yours like that? Where are your manners? What have I been teaching you all these years?"
"Ok Granny, he told me he wanted to hear the truth. And so I told him the truth. The dude is really annoying. And I can't stand seeing him standing there, like his the king of the world or he has been proved to be the smartest person on Earth, and insult my classmates because they don't know some stupid dates. What would you do if you were me?"
"I would probably talk in less disrespectful manner, unlike you!"
"I didn't revile him!"
"You almost did!"
"He deserved it!"
"You are not the right person to judge that!"
"Ok, time-out!" I yelled. "Why do you make such a song and dance about it?" I asked in a lower voice.
"I just won't you to respect your teachers."
"As long as they respect me!" I yelled and left immediately.
I went upstairs and closed the door of my room behind me. She came a few minutes after.
"Honey, look I'm sorry I yelled at you, but I don't know what to do when you react like that. I mean everybody says you're a top student, but-"
"Did he talk to you?"
"Excuse me?"
"Did Tanner talk to you, about me?"
"No, honey."
"You're a terrible liar."
"Ok, he didn't say much, but he thought you should see a professional..."
"Wait, wait, wait. You want me to see a psychologist?"
"No, honey, I didn't say that. Of course I refused that possibility at the beginning. You are not insane. Just a teenager! Like all the others!"
"Good for you."
"Ok, can you please stop be mad at me?"
"Fine..."
"Hug?" I hugged her. Usually, our fight doesn't last long. In the next few minutes we make up.
"So, what are your plans for tonight?"
"Nothing in particular. I think I should start making my presentation about the project I have in mythology."
"Really? And what is it about? Mr. Green always gives interesting subjects."
"Well, this time we could choose one of the subjects we have worked on so far, and I chose to write about Cassandra. Do you know who she is?"
"You mean the great prophetess of Troy? Of course I do."
"Granny, you surprise me. I didn't know you knew ancient Greek mythology."
"I don't know everything, just a little. But, I should leave you to do your 'magic' with the computer. I still don't get how this thing works..." I laughed.
"If you need something, do not hesitate to call me."
"Ok..." I murmured having already focused on my task.
So, I spent the rest of the evening and night, at least until 2 a.m., finishing and perfecting it. It was one of the best projects I had ever done. Pictures, historical information, videos and so on... I will get an A for sure. After saving the presentation, twice, in case anything went wrong, I decided it was time to go to sleep.
Tomorrow was the game, and I had to be awake.