School Will Never Be the Same

We ended up in the first aid room, near the common room on the last floor of the school. Mr. Way never let go of my hand. I would say it was an amazing feeling, his hand around mine, but I was still in some weird state of shock to really care about that right now. He made me sit on the bed thing, the type you find in doctors office, while he patched me up.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Mr. Way asked looking at the bruises on my wrist and when his nails had split my skin. He cleaned them gently. Although the alcohol stuff did sting. I shrugged. This is the first time either one of us had spoke. “If you don’t tell me what that was about I can’t help you, Natalie.” He looked up at me for a split second, then went back to attending to my wrists. “I just want to help you Natalie. Someone like you shouldn’t have to go through things like that. You shouldn’t have to be scared of people like Max.”

“People, like me?” I said slowly, I tried to figure out what he meant. People like you? What was that meant to mean. How does he know that much about me? All he knows is the stuff I let him see in school.

“Yeah, smart, powerful, girls with a lot of potential.” The way Gerard spoke about me, it was like he knew everything about me. Like he cared for me.

No. He doesn’t. This is teacher concern. Teacher motivation. Not personal concern.

“I'm none of those things.” I shook my head and looked down at my lap. “All I am, is some stupid girl, with unrealistic dreams, with a handful of friends.” I had shed enough tears today, I wasn’t going to let anymore go. Mr. Way used his finger to tilt my chin up and look into my eyes. He shook his head and touched my face where the eyeliner must have run.

“I don’t understand why a lot of people don’t see themselves clearly. Why a lot of people, seem to think there worth nothing. Don’t be one of those people, Natalie. Have confidence in who you are and what you can do. Don’t let someone like Max take that away from you.” He had finished dressing my wrists. His hand dropped from my face. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” I nodded and pointed a hand round to my very sore back. Mr. Way turned me around, gently and lifted my top so it rested on my shoulders. He made no indication of how bad it was. So I guessed it was bad.

“So tell me, doc, how bad is it?” I asked, trying to lighten the tense mood which had formed in the room. He chuckled and touched my back, pocking it a little hard, which made me wince in pain.

“Sorry, he’s hurt your back pretty bad.” Mr. Way sighed. “It’s only a bruise though. It’s going to hurt you for a while. When you lie down and things like that. But I think pain killers should help though.” He pulled my top back down. I slid from the bed and walked over to the mirror in the corner of the room. My face was red, my hair messed up, my make up had run. I looked a disaster. I ran water into the sink and began to wash my face.

When I was done, I thought I was alone, he’d left, it was so quiet in here, so still. But when I turned around to get my bag, Mr. Way stood with it on his shoulder by the door. “Do you have all your work with you?” I nodded walking towards him. My heart picked up a little. “You can work in my room for the rest of the day, I'll inform your teachers and the head teacher about the whole situation. But first you need to tell me why he did that to you. What did he say to you?” He motioned to a seat. I walked and sat down. He knelt down beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I knew, if I wanted, I could get Mr. Way put away. Teachers aren’t supposed to touch students, unless they have very good reason and training and things like that. But I would never do that to him. Besides I enjoyed the contact too much.

“He wanted to give me a message from my ex-boyfriend, James. They got drunk last night and apparently there's something he needs to tell me. Some message, and if I know the two of them, it won’t be ‘you’ll never hear from me again’ or ‘hope you’re ok’ or anything like that. It’ll be something sick and twisted. It’ll be something I don’t want to hear.” I looked at him in the eyes. “And now he knows he has some kind of power over me. That I'm weaker than him. And with James on his side. He’ll never leave me alone.” Mr. Way seemed shocked. I bet he didn’t think Max would have that sort of potential. I began to cry again. I think everything had just dawned on me. Or my time of the month was coming up. Mr. Way shocked me more than he had ever done in the past. He hugged me.

“I'll do everything I can to make sure he can never touch you again.”