Make sure to vote and comment. ❤️
-
Zayn couldn't help but to wonder why God decided to make his good day go bad.
After the dismissal bell for after lunch rang, Zayn sat down at down at his desk for a moment, on his laptop. When the tardy bell rang, he decided to get up and shut the room door. He sat back down at his desk, and grabbed his phone to text Louis and Kendall, telling them that he was in his conference period.
Not even a minute after texting them, his phone rang, and he realized that it was Louis and Kendall trying to start a three-way call. Zayn sighed, and answered his friends call.
Before he could even say hello, he was cut off by an over-enthusiastic Kendall. "Hello Zayn! How are you today?"
Zayn eyes widened as he looked towards the door, scared somebody could hear Kendall even though she's not on speaker. She could be quite loud. "Q-quiet down Kendall! I'm still at work!"
Zayn could literally feel his best friend roll her eyes on the other line. "Whatever, Zayn," she said, causing him to pout. Zayn could hear Louis deep chuckle. "Oh stop pouting," she continued, causing Zayn eyes to widened. How come his best friend's friends knew when he was pouting? He asked himself. "Back to my question, how are you today?"
He shrugged his shoulders even though his friends couldn't see him. "I'm alright," he mumbled.
"Really?" Kendall asked again, not believing.
"I-I'm fine, Kendall. I swear," Zayn told his worrying best friend. He knew that she was the one with the most doubt over Zayn's new job. She knew how teenagers could be very ruthless, seeing as she was one of those ruthless teenagers growing up, and she didn't like the fact that Zayn was going to be teaching them. She was scared that the teenagers were going to break the young lad, and she really didn't want Zayn getting upset over a few hard headed teenagers.
"Okay," she says, letting go of the topic hesitantly. He knew that she wanted to go on, but he was really fine.
"Anyways," Louis started, finally deciding to grace the group call with his voice, "How is everything going? How were your first few periods?"
And that's when Zayn started filling his best friends on how his day was going so far. "I-It was actually quite well to be honest. The students behaved well, they listened to what I said, and did their assignments," Zayn stated, then continued. "I-I'm pretty sure the only reason that they did it though because if they don't pass this class they can't graduate." He then let out a small chuckle, causing his two best friends to let out one as well.
"Well, when we were in school we didn't give a shit if the class was required to graduate, we still acted up," Kendall told, laughing softly. "Even then, most of the classes in high school are required to graduate. That's why they're in the school."
What Kendall said put a small damper on Zayn's' mood, but she didn't need to know that. He's pretty sure that his friend didn't mean to put him down in the drain a bit, but that didn't matter any.
"Being the buzz kill, aren't you Kendall?" Louis asked sarcastically, causing Zayn to let out a small giggle, which he immediately regretted.
"Shut up Louis," Kendall snapped. "I'm just stating the truth."
"Well the truth doesn't mean shit right now, Kendall. You aren't help shit right now, are 'ya? Onto the next topic," Louis dismissed, authority clear in his accented voice. Zayn hated when they were in situations like this. He couldn't help but to think it was his fault.
Zayn heard Kendall mumble a small whatever, and he bit his lip nervously, feeling responsible for the situation. If it wasn't for him, the best friends wouldn't have to be careful on what they said to each other.
"Zayn?" Louis said, snapping the younger guy out of his thoughts. He hummed in response to Louis. "I have a question."
Zayn bit his lip nervously before responding. "W-what is it?" He asked timidly.
"Who was that man voice that I heard earlier when I called?" Louis asked. Zayn eyes widened, and his mouth opened a bit.
"U-um h-he," Zayn started, stumbling over his words. He didn't know what to say. Justin was just a coworker, but for some reason he found himself not saying that. Instead, he said something completely different. "I-I have to go. The bell is about to ring."
Before his friends had a chance to respond, he already hung up the phone, placing the device on his desk. He sighed, placed both of his elbows on the desk, and ran his fingers through his hair.
He didn't know the reason why he started stuttering and hesitating when Louis asked who the man was. It was just Justin; his coworker. Nothing more. But for some reason he got nervous at the mention of the older man, and all that Zayn wondered at the moment was why.
All of a sudden Zayn phone started vibrating, snapping his attention towards it. When he looked at it he had a message from Louis saying that he was going to have to explain later.
Of course.
Not replying, Zayn cleared the space in front of him, making room for his sketchbook. He opened up the drawer and pulled out his personal sketchbook, and flipped through the new book which was already halfway filled. Once he found a page that was empty, he pulled out his drawing essentials and started to draw, wasting the time remaining of the conference period.
About forty minutes later while drawing, the bell rang, indicating the end of the period. Zayn stopped drawing, and not looking at what he drew, he stuffed the things back inside of his drawer, and closed it. Usually when Zayn drew, he let his hands do all the work. He didn't know what he was drawing, so he just went with the flow.
Zayn got up from the desk and went over to the door, opening it for students could come inside. He then went back over to his desk and sat down in his chair, waiting for students. It didn't take long for students to enter the room. But there was something different. Unlike the students earlier, these students didn't pay attention to their surroundings. They just entered the room, going straight for the seat that they wanted. Zayn eyebrows furrowed at the students, and he felt himself grow a bit nervous. Most of the students didn't even acknowledge him. More students entered inside of the classroom, talking, not paying attention to their surroundings, but there was some that did look, and Zayn heard some asked what happened to the old art room. Soon the whole classroom was filled up with students, almost every seat taken.
The tardy bell rang, and Zayn got up from his seat and went over to the door, shutting it. He then went back over to his desk and leaned on it, crossing his feet. The students didn't care that the tardy bell rang, because they still talked like it didn't even happen. Zayn nervously fiddled with his tie, not knowing how to get the students to stop talking.
"E-excuse me," he started nervously, hoping to get the students attention. It didn't work though, because the students were still talking. He then tried again, but a little bit louder. "E-Excuse me!"
The students just continued on talking.
Zayn was about to say that again until a loud, feminine voice cut him off. "Hey!" The voice shouted, snapping Zayn attention towards the girl that said it. "Shut up!"
Zayn bit his lip. A few students sent the girl a deadly glare, but she didn't care. That seemed to get the students attention though, because the talking then simmered down to a little. Zayn sent the girl a nervous smile, hoping that it was clear that he was showing her gratitude. The girl got the little message, because she winked at Zayn. Zayn blushed, and not wanting the students to see that, he turned his head towards his desk. He then reached out and grabbed the clipboard with the attendance on it.
He turned back around, and started taking the attendance, calling out the student's name. Almost everybody was there, but there were three students that were absent. With that being done, Zayn sat the clipboard back down. Looking back at the students, Zayn started to grow back nervous as he introduced himself.
"H-Hello students," he started, feeling most of the student's eyes bore into his. He then pointed towards his board where his name was written. "I-I'm Mr. Malik, the new-"
Zayn was cut off by a student. "Are you the new art teacher?" The student asks, tilting his head to the side.
Zayn eyebrows furrowed as he looked towards the student that interrupted him. He tried his best not to get irritated with the teenager. "Yes I am," Zayn stated, his usual calm and nervous voice changing to a deeper, monotone voice. "Please do not interrupt me while talking, please."
Zayn usually didn't get irritated with people, but certain things, like interrupting him while he was speaking, ticked the young teacher off. The student that cut him off scoffed, causing Zayn to raise an eyebrow at him. The student also rolled his eyes before saying, "Look who's pantries are in a bunch. I was just asking a question."
The student smart remark caused to students around him to let out a few laughs, causing Zayn to grow a bit nervous. Not even ten minutes into the period and he was already being embarrassed, and worse, by his students.
Trying to ignore his nervousness and what the smart-mouth student said, Zayn turned his attention back towards the whole class, who laughter simmered down. Zayn was about to start back talking until his classroom door burst opened, causing everybody attention to snap towards the suspect.
There standing at the door was a tardy student. The student was wearing a scowl on his face since everybody attention was towards him. Zayn looked at the student and grew annoyed. Another thing that irritated Zayn was people that were late.
"You're late," Zayn stated, looking at the student. The student turned his attention towards Zayn and his scowled became more prominent as he closed the classroom door.
"Ask me do I care," the guy retorted, causing Zayn to let out a small gasp and for the students to laugh. The guy smirked at the shocked teacher, and went to the first open seat that he could see. As the student's laughter died down, Zayn found himself growing more nervous than he was before. He bit his lip and started messing with his tie, feeling his body temperature to rise and feeling like he was being suffocated. Zayn tried to force down the anxiety, and it helped a bit, or so he thought. His breathing came more heavy, and inside his head he started to count down, not wanting to have an panick attack in front of his students.
"Are you okay?" A curious student asked, seeing how his teacher was fidgeting. Zayn head turned towards the student that asked him the question, and he nodded his head, swallowing down the lump in his throat.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine," Zayn said, barely above a whisper, managing to calm down a bit. The student raised an eyebrow at the teacher as if asking really, and Zayn turned his attention elsewhere.
Zayn got off of his desk and went around it to his drawer. He opened it and pulled out a stack of paper to hand out to the students. He placed the rightful amount of paper on each table, and he watched as students started to grab a piece, waiting for his instructions.
"W-what I want you guys to do is write your likes and dislikes of art, and some t-things you guys would like to i-improve on. My lesson plans depend on what you guys w-would like to see, so this is an important a-assignment," Zayn told the class, stuttering his way throughout the sentence. Some students looked at the stuttering curiously, while most made sounds of approval and Zayn nodded, going over to his desk and sitting down.
The students in the classroom started talking and doing their work. Zayn grabbed the assignments from his earlier classes and started looking through them, reading what the students would like to improve on and like to see. He knew that as long as the students did the assignment that he was already going to give them an A.
After a few minutes of looking through the assignments, Zayn got up from his seat and started walking around, checking what the students were doing. Some students were already finished, which he was proud of, but majority of them were not. It wasn't a hard assignment, so Zayn didn't see why most of them weren't finished. While walking around, Zayn went to the table where the guy that came in sat at, and when he arrived to the guy, his paper was just blank, sitting in front of him. Zayn eyebrows furrowed, and he placed his hand on the table, catching the guy attention, who just scowled at him.
"Why are you doing your work?" Zayn asked the student, not understanding why he wasn't doing the simple assignment.
The student just shrugged his shoulder, and looked away from the teacher. "Because I don't want to," he responded, annoyance clear in his voice. Students around them chuckled.
Zayn titled his head to the side and placed a hand on his hip and looked at the student, even though he wasn't paying attention to him. "You do know this is for a grade, right?" He asked, annoyance ringing clear in his voice.
The student shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care," he mumbled, placing his head on the desk. Seeing as the students before were laughing and most were curious onto why, more students laugh this time.
Zayn looked up nervously at the students who were currently laughing at the situation. He should've said more things to the student; threaten to send him to the principal or write him up, but for some reason he couldn't. He didn't have the courage to. It was just his first day, and he wanted to come off as a nice teacher. Something that most students probably didn't have.
Zayn sighed, and walked over to his desk to sit down. He sat in his chair, and just watched the students while biting his lip.
I can't believe i'm letting teenagers treat me like this, Zayn told himself. I should be better than this.
Zayn snapped out of his thoughts once a seen a body approach his desk. He looked up to see a small student standing in front of him. The student had brown hair, blue eyes, and stood roughly at 5'6. Just from looking at him Zayn could tell that he was a shy guy.
Zayn smiled at the student, who was nervously biting his lip, something Zayn and him had in common while nervous. "Hello," Zayn greeted him.
"H-hi M-Mr. Malik," the student said, stuttering over his words like Zayn does. "U-uh, w-what a-are we s-supposed to d-do with o-our work?" He asked. Zayn stared at the student in awe, which made the guy a bit nervous. What was his teacher thinking?
"Just keep it for now. I'll pick it up before you guys leave for your last class," he responded, earning a small sigh and a nervous from the student. He nodded his head and let out a thank you, and turned around. But before he could take a step, Zayn spoke. "What is your name?"
The student eyes widened and he turned around to meet his teachers face, who sent him an assuring smile. "J-ericho Adam," he told Zayn.
Zayn could already tell that he was going to like the guy. "Well, Jericho, it's a pleasure having you in my class this year," he told him. Jericho smiled at his teacher before nodding his head, and going back to his seat in the back.
About ten minutes later, the bell rang, and before Zayn could tell the students to wait for him at the door to collect their papers, they were already up and out the door. Zayn eyes widened as he seen the students move so fast. The only student that stayed behind was Jericho, who approached a now sad Zayn, and handed him his paper. He sent the teacher a sad smile before exiting out of the room.
After Jericho, the final student, left, Zayn got up from his seat and went over to close the door. When he turned around, he was met with a trashed classroom. Chairs weren't under their desk, papers were on the floor, and as long with stuff being on the table. Zayn held his head down for a moment, before picking up the assignments from the tables. He started from the front, all the way to the back. When he got to the table where the guy that wasn't doing his work sat, his paper was there, with just his name on it. Zayn left out a shaky sigh before collecting the paper. When Zayn got to the final table, there was only a small cleaned portion of it, and Zayn guessed that it was from Jericho.
Zayn went over to his desk and sat the papers on it, then started cleaning up the classroom. He knew that there were janitors, but he felt like since it was his class, that it was his responsibility to clean up. After the tardy bell sounded, he pushed in all of the chairs before getting the trash off the ground. He then got all the trash that were on the table, and threw everything in the trash.
With the classroom now being cleaned, Zayn went over to his desk, and once he sat down in his chair, he put his head down onto the desk, letting out a heavy sigh. Zayn could feel his eyes water from how things just went. He scolded himself for not having the courage to stand up to teenagers. He knew what he was in store for when he started this job, but some part of him hoped that things would have been different.
Boy, was he wrong.
Before Zayn could even stop himself, Zayn let out a choked up sob, now letting the tears flow freely down his face, against his will. He didn't know why he was crying. He didn't know if it was from how he basically embarrassed himself in front of the class or if it was because of something else. Whatever reason it was, it broke Zayn heart that he was crying over something so small.
Little did he know that there was another heart on the other side of the door breaking from hearing the smaller guy sobs, and that person wanted nothing more but to cuddle him and let him know that everything was going to be alright.
-
The final bell rang, indicating the end of school. Zayn watched from his classroom door window as students started to walk down the hall to get to their cars or to the bus that they rode.
During Zayn's conference period, he looked through all the papers that he collected throughout his classes. Most of his last period did the work, which surprised him. He had a few that didn't do their work, which made him sad.
Once all of the students cleared out the hallway, Zayn hurriedly got up from his chair and grabbed his bag, putting his papers, sketch pads, and laptop inside of it. He opened his drawer and grabbed his keys, then closed it. He grabbed his phone off his desk stuffed it in his pocket. He slung his bag over his shoulder, and made his way towards the exit. He turned off the light, opened the door, locked it, then shut it.
Zayn made his way down the hall, passing Justin class along the way. When Zayn looked inside of Justin class, the man was sitting down at his desk, looking like he was grading papers. Zayn sighed in relief. He really didn't want Justin to bother him while his eyes looked red, that was proof enough that he's been crying.
He went down the stairs, going down to the first floor. When he got down the steps, he walked towards the exit, and once he reached it he opened the door, he was immediately met with the breeze. He shivered a bit while making his way towards his car. He pressed the lock button, hearing the car horn, then pressed the start button on the keys. He headed his car roared to life, and once he reached it he unlocked it, opening the door. Before he got in he took his bag off, sitting it in the passenger seat. He closed the door behind him as he got in and put on his seat belt. Once adjusted, Zayn backed out of the parking spot the put the car in park, driving away from his job.
Before Zayn went home, he stopped by a small market by his apartment, picking him up something quick and easy to make for dinner. When he went in he ended up buying himself lemon pepper chicken, an easy meal for the stove. He walked out of the market after paying for his item, getting back inside of his Mercedes and driving home.
He arrived at the apartment building a few minutes after leaving the market. He entered the parking garage, parked his car, and turned off the engine. He grabbed all of his things and got out of the vehicle, locking it behind him. With his things in his hands, Zayn pressed the elevator button, and once it opened he stepped in, pressing the button to his floor.
Once he arrived at his floor, he stepped out and went to his door. He took his keys and put it in the keyhole, twisting it to unlock the door. Once he heard the click, he slipped the keys out and stepped inside of the warm, cinnamon smelling apartment. He closed the door behind him and walked towards his kitchen.
He put his things down on the kitchen counter, except for the lemon pepper chicken, which he took out of the bag. He went over to the counter and placed it down, then opened a cabinet to pull out a skillet. He placed the skillet on the stove, turned on the stove, and then went over to his chicken and opened it, later placing it on the skillet.
After his chicken was finished, he put the food on a plate, grabbed a fork and a bottle of water, then went over to his couch. He took his shoes off, grabbed the remote, and turned on the television, sitting the remote back down. Zayn got himself comfortable on the couch before he started to eat his meal.
Zayn thoughts drifted off to his last class period. He couldn't believe that he managed to embarrass himself the way he did. His day was going so good until he has the last period. He should've been expecting it, though. Justin warned him about the period. He just didn't imagine it being that bad.
He thought to himself that he should've had more control than he did. When the student came in late, he should've scolded him for that. When the student refused to do his work, he should've written him up and send him to the office. But, he knew that he couldn't do that. He was too nice, something that someone in his line of profession should put aside sometime.
And he couldn't believe that he actually let himself cry of something like that. I'm such a big baby, Zayn thought to himself.
He couldn't help the rush of imagines of a sixteen-year-old, helpless Zayn standing in the middle of a huge crowd, all surrounding him and laughing at him. He could hear them throw insults towards him. Worthless, idiot, a freak, waste of space, a wimp and his favorite...
A faggot.
Zayn threw his now half finished chicken onto the coffee table and started tugging at his dress shirt, his body temperature suddenly increasing. His breathing became heavier and heavier as he thought about his high school days. How he was made fun of, how he was taken advantage of, and how he became what he is today.
A coward.
Zayn tried his best to repress the memories that he has tried so hard to forget, thinking about anything besides that. His life was better than it used to be, but he knew he could enjoy his life more if he could just be who he wanted to be without being scared.
He used the techniques that Kendall and Louis taught him over the years when he had a panic attack; counting down from ten, thinking happy thoughts, taking deep breaths, and most important, remember its only temporary.
This seem to help him, because after a few moments of doing these techniques, his breathing slowly became normal, but he couldn't help the sudden urge to sleep. With this sudden urge, Zayn laid his head down on his pillow, forgetting his blankets, and within minutes he fell in a semi peaceful sleep.
-
This chapter sucks.
Like seriously, this chapter is terrible.
Not only does it suck, but it was rushed as well.
There is so many things wrong with this chapter than I can't.
It's not that I wasn't motivated to write this chapter, it's just I didn't know what to write. I didn't know how to word certain things.
Tbh I wanna take a break from writing this story so I can plan out things, but eh I don't know we'll see.
Idk if there's going to be another chapter out this week. Imma try though but if not oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Let me know what you guys think about this suckish-chapter. Please leave a vote and a comment. It's highly appreciated.
Snippets of Zayn past? 💁
Until next time. ❤️
P.S. This is my second time writing this but I accidentally deleted the last part and I said much more in that part so I'm missing some shit to say.
AND IM ALSO EDITING AND POSTING THIS BEFORE I GO TO BED AND I TRIED MY BEST TO LOOK FOR MISTAKES BUT I MAY HAVE OVERLOOKED SOME BC SLEEPY ASF.