See Me After Class

“Hey Calla!” Jonah said seeing her bright yellow chucks just as they passed his door.

Calla froze, “Yes, Mr. Carter.” Turning on her heals she faced him.

“Will you show Alyssa where Mrs. Peterson’s room is?’ Jonah asked giving her a look and slightly pushing Alyssa to her.

“Sure, Mr. Carter…come on Lys. Did mom give you Oreos?” Calla avoided his eyes as she guided her little sister in the direction of her homeroom teacher.

“No! She gave me teddy grahms. You wanna trade?” You could see the hope in the young girl’s eyes.

Jonah watched as they walked away, he hadn’t noticed before, Alyssa was a spitting image of Calla. She wore deep blue skinny jeans with on e bright blue chuck and one bright pink one; both colors matched her To Write Love On Her Arms shirt. Her My Chemical Romance bag chimed as het key chains hit against one another. He finally had to pull his eyes away as he heard his class’ volume start to rise.

“Wow, Alyssa is a weird one, shed be so cute, if she matched.” A boy in the front row smiled with pride as his classmates laughed at his ‘joke’.

“What’s your name?” Jonah crossed his arms as he looked at the boy’s smile slip a little.

“Troy Robbins...” He stood up and spun around showing off his expensive looking clothes,
“the one and only!”

“ Do you think you’re funny?” Troy’s face fell all together, “Do you guys think this is funny?

Because I don’t and neither would she. Clothes are clothes, no matter how much they cost or where you get them from. They are all made the same way. She has every right to where those clothes just as much as you do to wear those hand-me-down clothes. I think you better go find the office. Now, Mr. Robbins.”

Troy’s face was hard and his eyes glossy, as he slowly picked up his things and walked out of the room, looking back and meeting Jonah’s eyes for a moment, turning just before a tear fell.

X—X

The Next Day

Walking down the hallway in the morning Calla argued with herself about whether or not she should go to Jonah’s room. Eventually she just decided that she would go t his room and see if he was there. Stopping outside the door Calla listened.

“Matt! You don’t get it! The way I feel when I see her, the way I my hair stands up when I say her name, or even someone else says her name. I’ve never felt this way…not even with Mandy…”

*pause*

“She’s a Junior.”

*pause*

“Why would it matter? --- Yes, I’m pretty sure the global teacher heard our…moment…considering we never hung up the phone, until after she left.”

*pause*

“Okay, I have to go. She will be her soon. --- Yes, I will keep it in my pants, Matt. Thank you.
Bye.”

Calla’s hand covered her mouth as she listened; his words hitting her like a bullet. She fell back onto the wall; her exposed back hit the cold wall as she felt goose bumps rise on her skin.

“Holy Shit…” she breathed closing her eyes.

Nothing Shocks you like a bullet hole, deep in my fear on the danger line…

*Private Caller*

“Hello?” her voice sounding much calmer than she felt, at the moment.

“Come here…” Jonah’s voice smiled.

Grunting she slacked against the wall in relief, “Jonah, you scared me!”

He stiffened as his name left her lips, “Oh, so we’re on a first name basis, now?”

Walking into his room she glared, “I’m hanging up now...”

She dropped her stuff in the same place as the previous day and walked to the counter on the other side of the room, hopping up in one swift motion.

Giving her a look Jonah walked to her, “I don’t have cooties…”

Calla raised her eyebrows, as if she didn’t know the truth. Her eyes danced around the room, landing on every detail other than his eyes. She looked up when she felt his hips touch her knees.

“Calla, what’s wrong?” Concern dropped from his voice, he placed his hands on her lower thigh.

Flinching Calla looked away, “I heard you talking on the phone…”

He removed his hands quickly, “How much did you hear?”

“Enough. Jonah, we can’t do this…” She sounded urgent as she finally met his eyes.

“Do what?” Jonah backed up slightly.

“Feel this way, it’s not right.” Looking away ashamed, she sighed and again met his eyes.

“Says who? Really, who says this has to be wrong? Does it feel wrong? Does sitting here right now, looking into my eyes feel wrong, to you? Does it feel wrong when we touch? It doesn’t feel at all wrong, not to me anyway.”

“To start out with the law says its wrong, Jonah, and I don’t know what I feel right now.”

Sitting there they never looked away from one another until Calla couldn’t take it anymore and looked away. She knew it felt so right, but she thought about her little sister and her mom; if they got caught they wouldn’t have anyone left.

“Fuck.” Jonah breathed before quickly grabbing her face, pausing to look her in the eyes, then kissed her; light as a feather. Pulling away quickly he thought about what he had just done, he put his hands up in defeat and backed up slowly.

Without thinking Calla reached out and pulled him to her, kissing him hard.

Stopping suddenly she pushed him off, before hopping down and grabbing her things, “I can’t do this, I have to go.” Walking out of the room she couldn’t help but look back to see the look of pain in his eyes.

She stopped and turned to him, “You know, Troy didn’t mean it. He lives next to us, he has all his life, he was home schooled and this is his first year. Lyssa told her to pick on her so he would seem cool. He came home bawling, and crying to Lys… Goodbye Mr. Carter.”