Unexplainable Thoughts

For a few awkward minutes, Mr. Reed had me tell me him exactly what had been happening to me ever since James started to bother me.

It's somewhat of a long story...

I've known James Reglara since we were in kindergarten together. Throughout elementary school, it seemed that I was always the one person he would tease and annoy the most. He would come up with names for me, steal my pencils or erasers, and immature little things that would get under my skin.

During middle school, I never really saw him. It was almost like he disappeared.
It turns out that he was being homeschooled... or at least that's what everyone said.

Now I'm not so sure.

He returned to school when we became freshmen in high school. He didn't bother me as much anymore, but if the opportunity presented itself, he would jump at the chance to tease me in some way.

I had learned from many years of his teasing that ignoring him, keeping my mouth shut, and rolling my eyes was the best way to deal with him.
He soon tired of messing with me, and I was free of James Reglara until last year, my sophomore year.

Instead of the usual hazing I received from him at the beginning of the school year, my phone received flattering text messages that explained how pretty I looked every day. My inner teenage girl took over my mind at these actions, because I was soon becoming friendly and maybe even a little flirty with him.

Then a week or two of school flew by, and he asked me out, and I, of course, said yes.

I constantly ask myself why I agreed to going out with him, but the only logical reason was that my mind had become caught up in the thought of having a high school boyfriend.

We dated for about three or four months before I came to my senses. Our relationship consisted of texting each other almost every day, sending each other flirty glances during class, holding hands when we walked down the hallways together, hugging when it seemed appropriate, and occasional dates that always seemed to be with his guy friends and their dates.

I began to grasp onto the fact that we did not have a normal couple relationship. After we had been dating for a month or two, James became less and less romantic and more jealous and controlling. And it wasn't the normal type of controlling, it was becoming untolerable and scary.

He had to know where I was at every moment of the day, he wouldn't let me go somewhere unless he was with me, he banned me from seeing my friends (but my morals overruled him, and I found ways to keep my friends and hang out with them without him knowing), and instead of calling me by name or even "girlfriend", he started calling me "mine" or "my lover" or "my mate" and creepy things like that. And it also seemed strange because... we didn't even kiss.

As embarassing as it is... I've never been kissed.

I finally broke up with him, and regained my whole life back. But he didn't really take the rejection the way I had hoped. Instead of moving on, he decided that he was going to get me back.

Now I'm stuck with James Reglara's stalking and constant advances throughout almost every day of school.
It has become something almost routine, so I don't really pay attention to James much anymore, except for the days he really bugs the shit out of me.

After I had relayed all of my experiences with James, Mr. Reed sat with a strange look on his face and stared at nothing in particular as if he were in deep thought.

I decided that staring at him while he was thinking probably wasn't the best idea, so I resorted to picking at the stray pieces of string at the bottom of my pants.
I had just plucked the last string, when a large hand rested on my left shoulder.

"Ver." I looked up at Mr. Reed to see a somewhat sympathetic look on his face.
"I want you to let me know if James ever bothers you in any way."

"James is harmless though. I mean, he's been after me for how long and the worst thing he's ever done was tell everyone at school that I... uh... that we... that we had..." I contemplated on whether or not I should finish that sentence, still feeling slightly awkward talking to my teacher about this.

"He told everyone that you had sex with him?" His voice came out in a whisper but held an intensity that lead me to believe that the statement had caused some anger within him.

"Well... yeah. No one actually believed him, but it was still rough on me because his friends would come up to me a month later and ask me if it was true. It just brought up bad memories. It wasn't a big deal." I stared down at my hands, which were constantly twisting and moving in ways to crack my fingers, which I had recently gained as a nervous habit.

"Ver, it was a big deal. It still is a big deal. He could do something so much worse than spreading rumors, and I want to be there to make sure he doesn't. You have to promise me that you'll tell me if anything happens. Even if it's the smallest thing like him saying 'Hi' to you in the hallway, you have to tell me." His face was set in a stern expression, and his voice held a tone of authority.

"I promise." I stared into his eyes, and I could feel that I truly meant it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around one, Mr. Reed drove me home to let me enjoy the rest of my Saturday alone.

Instead of hanging out with Missy like I usually would when my aunt and uncle are gone, I spent the rest of my weekend lounging around the house and watching movies.

On Monday, I arrived at school slightly earlier than usual, probably due to the fact that my anxiety had gotten the better of me.

I think I rifled through my locker about eight times before I felt someone kick the back of my knee. I turned around to see Missy with a hand on her hip and an unimpressed look on her face.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked as I shut my locker, then leaned against it.

"I tried texting you all weekend, but you never answered me. And I went to your house on Friday, but no one was there, and there was a note on the door that said your aunt and uncle left for a business trip. So where were you?"

"Well... I... uh... I was... at... I was at... the mall." I said unconvincingly.

"Come on, Ver. You suck at lying. Now tell me the truth." She raised an accusing eyebrow at me, and I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Fine. I was at someone's house." I reluctantly answered, taking a quick glance down the hall toward Mr. Reed's classroom.

"Someone's house? Don't be so vague, just tell me." She commanded, sounding irritated.

"I was at Mr. Reed's house." I mumbled out, as well as took another glance at his classroom where the door was wide open, but his body was not visible from my position.

"What? You were at Mitchell Reeves' house? Why were you there?" She misheard me.

"I. Was. At. Mr. Reed's. House." I said in a quiet tone, trying to enunciate every word so she would understand. At that moment, Mr. Reed stepped out of his classroom and began walking down the hallway towards us.

Her eyes widened at my answer to her question and her mouth opened and closed in a way that resembled a fish. But before she could even utter a word, I placed my index finger in front of her lips in a way to keep her quiet.

"I'll tell you at lunch." I spoke in a hushed tone as I quickly started to make my way down the hallway to my first hour class, but not before I could sneak a quick look behind me to catch a wink from Mr. Reed, as well as send one back.