Reminiscing

Silence filled the room, Gerard and I were still in each other’s arms, just staring at Miss Robinson’s shocked face. We’d finally been caught, yet I somehow hoped that no one would find out, that we could just keep our relationship a secret so’s not to be judged. I guess not. Eventually it all became too much for me, I had to break the awkwardness of the situation, or at least say something.

“Miss Robinson, I-I can explain.” I stuttered out. The shock had disappeared from her face, it was now just an emotionless brick wall. I looked back at Gerard, his eyes were filled with fear.

“Mr Way, step away from the underage student.” Miss Robinson finally spoke up. Gerard removed his arms from around me and pushed me away a little. I felt slightly hurt but I knew that it had to be done. “Both of you. My office. Now.” she said authoritatively before walking out of the room. I heard Gerard sigh from behind me.

“Gerard…” I whimpered, tears in my eyes. Gerard pulled me tight into his arms, stroking my back softly as I continued to sob quietly into his chest. Once I’d stopped crying I leant back to look at him, he looked scared to death. “G-Gerard, I’m sorry.” I stuttered, sobs raking over my voice occasionally.

“Oh Frankie, it’s not your fault.” He said as he caressed my cheek tenderly. “We’re just gonna have to face up and take our punishment.”

“B-But what if you go to prison? I can’t lose you.” I said, staring up at his hazel eyes, gripping his shirt tighter in my fist.

“Don’t worry, whatever happens, I’ll always love you.” He whispered. Tears fell from my eyes once again before he leant down to peck my lips. I wiped my eyes as we headed out of the classroom and down the halls to Miss Robinson’s office. Gerard knocked lightly on the door, she signalled for us to come in and we both took a seat on the lather arm chairs in front of her desk. She sighed before opening her mouth to speak.

“Frank, I thought you were a good kid, what happened?” she asked, clearly surprised, I mean, come on, I was basically a straight A student for the whole of high school.

“I dunno.” I mumbled, my gaze fixed on the beige colour of the carpet.

“Did Mr Way force you into this situation?” she asked.

“No!” I exclaimed, outraged that she had the nerve to suggest that Gerard had ‘seduced’ me or something. What a bitch.

“Look, Miss Robinson, this isn’t Frank’s fault, you shouldn’t punish him. I’m to blame, and I know that, just please don’t let this jeopardise Frank’s future.” Gerard pleaded to her. I looked at him, completely shocked that he’d completely taken the wrap for this. I was about to object to this but Miss Robinson cut me off.

“I’ll be straight with you for a moment, this school has a bad enough reputation as it is. We don’t really want something like this to get out to the media or something, it could be catastrophic for the school. So if you leave immediately we won’t turn you into the police, you can just walk away and we’ll act like this never happened.” She reasoned. I was speechless, I just couldn’t believe that she was basically letting us off for this.

“But what about Frank?” Gerard asked.

“I’m afraid that this will have to go on his permanent record, people will know that he’s been abused.” She said. What the hell?!

“Abused?! He wasn’t abused!” Gerard exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his seat.

“Well would you rather have everyone know that he was raped by a teacher?” she retorted. This made Gerard settle down and keep his mouth closed for a while. “I didn’t think so. You can pack your stuff today or tomorrow, I don’t really care, as long as you’re gone by the end of school tomorrow. You’re both excused.” she said, I quickly arose from my seat and headed out of the room with Gerard right behind me. Once we were both outside I quickly burst into tears again.

“Oh Frankie,” Gerard cooed, pulling me into his chest where I sobbed for the second time today. “Shh, everything’s gonna be okay, its gonna be alright, you’ll see.” He kept whispering these comforting words into my ear, but I’m not so sure I can believe him.