Breaking Down the Unbreakable

"Riley, are you alright?" I looked up to see Mrs. Handel waiting for me at her desk.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I sat in the chair across from her.
"Alright, first things first, I'm Mrs. Handel, but no one calls me that. In here I'm Han." She shuffled some papers from one pile to another to find the computer mouse hidden beneath them. I'm pretty sure the piles didn't actually have a specific order to them. "Alright, I see you've been in quite a few different choirs in past years."
"Yes." I nodded.
"Can you sing something for me?" She looked up from her computer. "I trust you're a fine singer, but I want to get a feel for your voice."
I was frozen. All the other teachers just accepted that I was there and ignored what I sang. I've never wanted to be in any special group where anyone would actually hear my voice!
"I don't think so." I didn't sound rude. At least I don't think. I just really didn't want to. "I'm not good at singing in front of people."
"We can close the door." She stood and pulled the door closed. "One thing I promise my students is I will never make you sing in front of your peers, but I expect to be able to hear you sing at least once."
I closed my eyes and sighed letting out the only song I could think of. Keep Holding On: Avril Lavigne.
"You're not alone. Together we stand. I'll be by your side you know I'll take your hand. When it gets cold and it fell like the end, there's no place to go you know I won't give in. No I won't give in. Keep holding on. 'Cause you know we'll make it through. Just stay strong. 'Cause you know I'm here for you. There's nothing you can say. There's nothing you can do. There's no other way when it comes to the truth. So keep holding on, 'Cause you know we'll make it through."
When I opened my eyes I saw her smiling at me. It scared me a little.
"That was amazing. Why not sing for people?"
"It's just not something I do anymore."
"Fair enough. Well, if you change your mind, I'm pretty good at helping with things like that." She smiled. "Well, we're about to start the music for our end-of-the-year concert. It's at the end of May."
"Okay. Sounds good."
We exited the small office and I noticed a few people staring at me. I was seriously confused. I took a seat next to Ali and watched her write her reflection.
"This is such a load of BS, but as long as I get the points and I sound sincere she doesn't really care." she said hopping up to turn in her paper.
"So what was that look between you and Seth?" she said sitting back down next to me.
"Who?"
"Seth? You know. Tall, gorgeous, badass I'm-God's-gift-to-the-world Seth?" She looked at me like I was crazy.
"Oh so that's his name." I shrugged. "He's an ass. I ran into him in the hall before I showed up at Trig."
"He was looking at you pretty intensely." She elbowed me a little. "I think he likes you."
"Oh please. He basically threatened my life. He was glaring at me like he was Shrek and I was Pinocchio in a tent on his lawn." She let out a laugh clearly understanding my Shrek reference.
"If that's what you want to think. Seth doesn't look at anyone. Ever. I mean the guy's never had a girlfriend or anything."
"That's not surprising. He's evil. He claims to rule the school and anyone who happens to trip in his presence is a disgrace to his perfect world."
"Hello! He's gorgeous! He's not single for a lack of options. Girls practically throw themselves at his feet. He's single by choice."
"Oh, he's one of those I can't share my power with anyone kind of people?" I glanced over to where he was sitting with his ear buds in.
"He has one friend, and everyone else isn't worth his time. Unless of course they piss him off." She almost shuddered. Or maybe I was dreaming it.
"Oh come on. He can't honestly be that scary."
"You don't even know. Last semester one of his nerd tutors told a teacher he'd been cheating on his math tests and the kid didn't come back to school the next day. Rumor is he transferred because Seth said if he ever came back he'd lose a limb."
"Right." I rolled my eyes and looked back over to Seth only to see him staring at me. I was surprised when I couldn't read his face. "My bet is the kid had been planning to transfer anyway and he decided if he was leaving anyway why not tell on the school's douche bag?"
"Rye, I'm not kidding. Even the teachers let him get away with stuff. He's late to this class every day because he escorts Rochelle to class." She rolled her eyes and pulled out her IPod. "Though I know he doesn't like her. I mean she's dumber than a toothpick."
"Wait, Rochelle? Like Barbie in trig?"
"That's her. She's been trying to get into Seth's pants since freshman year. It's really sad. She's going out with Jackson and he totally knows she's openly trying to sleep with Seth, but I'm pretty sure he figures Seth hasn't given in yet, so why would he now?"
"Jackson? Like tall, buff, football, I'm-amazing-baby-what's-your-name Jackson?" She gave me a weird look.
"You got here 2nd period. How do you know him already?"
And that's when the door opened again. Only this time it wasn't a student walking through the doors. It was one of those Campus Supervisors that rides around in little golf carts and driving like there's no one in the halls. He walked up to Han and whispered to her. Of course, she pointed to me. I knew it was too good to be true.
"Why is Han pointing at you?"
"Jackson. Yeah I met him during break, and I might have accidentally kneed him in the crotch."
"No shit!" She smiled. "Right on! That asshole deserves a good blow to the ego." She gave me a high-five as the Campus Supervisor walked over to us. I looked at his shirt and saw his name was Rich. Nice name.
"Riley Hart?" I nodded. "Mr. Price would like to see you."
"Somehow, I'm not surprised."
I followed him out of the room but just before I was fully out, I felt eyes on me. Not like the entire class wasn't already interested as to why the new girl was going to the office, but these felt different. Almost stronger.
I glanced back at my shoulder to see Seth watching me walk out like a criminal marching off to the electric chair. But he wasn't glaring. His face at a glance would seem like he was bored with the universe, but one look at his eyes and it was easy to see. He was laughing.