Shaded Beauty

The next day at school, Shaya stalked the clock like it was her last day on earth. Every minute that passed meant she was a minute closer to her afternoon with Mr. Rylander, and she was far more excited about it than she probably should have been. Not even Lucas’s continuously somber mood could damper her spirits. On the outside, though, she tried very hard to keep a casual demeanor. It seemed that Katrina was watching her every move in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her friend’s favoritism toward their new teacher, and Shaya knew that if she found it, she would never let it go. Her slip up the other day proved that right; Katrina continuously asked just how well Shaya knew him, no matter her previous questions.

Despite her good mood, Shaya still felt a sense of alarm at just how much she wanted to spend time with Mr. Rylander. It wasn’t entirely normal for a student to want to stay after school, no matter how studious they may be, and Shaya was a bookworm. We have a lot in common, and there are students who have that mentor relationship with teachers. She tried to rationalize her feelings, but deep down she knew there was more than admiration involved.

Even more worrisome was her lack of attention to Lucas. Things hadn’t changed with her friend over the week. He continued to skip lunch, and the only time Shaya saw Lucas was in Physics, but even then it was a fleeting nod at the beginning of class before he nodded off. However, despite the growing concern that was festering in the back of her mind, Her main focus of attention was her upcoming meeting with Mr. Rylander.

As soon as she walked into the room, Shaya found Mr. Rylander erasing the board. He turned are immediately gave her a smile before saying, “Give me a moment to clean this off.”

Shaya nodded, and then moved over to the front of his desk. It was a decision she immediately regretted, however, when she realized that she now had a perfect view of his backside. He leaned up to erase a smudge on the top of the board, and his once tidy shirt now stuck out, exposing skin. Shaya turned red and looked down quickly. All I need is for him to catch me staring.

“Alright,” Colton announced as he finished and turned around to face her. Immediately he noticed her disheveled composure. Did I say something to offend her? Deciding to ignore it, he continued, “this open house…what is it?”

Shaya questioned him, “You don’t know what an open house is?”

“No I do,” He gave a short, embarrassed laugh, “Of course I do. It’d just been a very long time since I’ve been to one, and I’ve never been on the teacher’s side.”

“Well,” Shaya wasn’t sure what to say. Shouldn’t someone else be telling him what to do? “All I know is that the teacher’s welcome the family’s into their classrooms and basically show them how awesome they are. I’ve seen posters, pictures, candy…Senora Beeze makes her students dress up and dance. You’re just trying to show kids how much fun our school is and make them want to come here.”

Colton gave her a blank stare. “Are you serious?” He then buried his head in his hands. They didn’t tell me I had to come up with all this shit on my own. This was not on the job description. James and I will be having a word. “I’ve been here a week, why would they make me do this?”

Shaya wasn’t sure how to respond because she honestly didn’t know herself. “Your guess is as good as mine. I just figured since you teach a lot of classes, including freshman, it’s important for you to be there.”

“How am I supposed to make these kids want to come here? Display my first homework assignment?”

The words came out of her mouth before she could stop and think about them, “The only thing you’d need to do is show up. You’ll have kids flocking.”

Colton’s eyes widened as he sat immobilized. Did she…did she just say what I think she said? His question was confirmed as her entire face turned red and she looked to the ground, and he felt his own cheeks turn hot. I never would have expected that to come from her. But I don’t mind as much as I would have if it were someone else. It wasn’t as if Colton had never been ogled by some lust-hungry teenager before. This time, though, was different.

Shaya wasn’t sure how she’d be able to face him again as she stood, completely mortified. I can’t believe I just said that. I just implied that my teacher was attractive. How am I supposed to look up at him? I wouldn’t be surprised if he kicked me out right now.

“Do you think I could get away with that?”

The sound of his voice made Shaya look up to find Colton watching her curiously, his lips were turned up in a reassuring smile. Is…is he flirting with me? Or is this just his way of diffusing the tension after my slip?

This is not me. Still, Colton didn’t resist the playful urge that overcame him and continued to help her feel at ease. Besides, she’s a well-mannered and responsible girl. It’s harmless.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you could get away with it.” Shaya replied

“Well then, we’ll have to figure out a plan b. What did Mrs. Greely do for these things?”

Shaya had to think about it a minute. The last time she had her former teacher was freshman year, and it was a little difficult to recall what happened three years ago. “She put up pictures from the trip.” She continued as the memory slowly seeped into her consciousness, “Every year the senior class works on Shakespeare. They read one of his plays, work on performing their own little acts in class, then they take a trip to see the play done in the city. She usually talks about that and shows up pictures of the whole class learning.” Shaya remembered not only seeing them on Mrs. Greely’s posters, but also listening to her sister talk about her own trip.

“Well that’s good for her, but I wasn’t exactly there, and it’s not like she left me these things.” Colton mumbled the last part to himself. That woman’s left me nothing but a lesson plan and giant shoes to fill.

Shaya knew he was right. Still, there’s got to be something somewhere. I can’t just leave him unprepared… “The yearbook!” She shouted suddenly then blushed at the quizzical look he was now giving her. “There are always pages in the yearbook about it. They might still be in the clubroom from last year.”

Colton gave a sigh of relief. Maybe I’m not doomed after all. “I’ll have to go there tomorrow and see.”

“I can go now. I have a key.” Shaya dug around into her bag until her fingers grasped the lanyard that held her keys. “Head of the yearbook committee,” she explained as she noticed Colton’s curious glances. “I can run and see if they’re still their now. If you’d like.”

Colton smiled at her excessive enthusiasm. At least she’s more than willing to help. “That would be great. You don’t mind?”

Shaya shook her head. “Not at all. I’ll be back in a moment.” With that she nearly dashed out, closing the door behind her.

As soon as he was alone, Colton sat back against his desk and closed his eyes. What am I doing? I don’t even know if I like teaching, yet here I am laughing and enjoying myself with a student. I haven’t opened up to anyone in years, but this girl makes it so easy. As much as he hated it, Colton knew he needed to distance himself from her. But for the first time, that might be easier said than done.

Colton was drawn out of his thoughts by the ringing of his cellphone and groaned loudly at the name on the screen. This can’t be good. “Hello?”

“Colton, hi. It’s Annie.”

“Hey Annie, what’s going on?”

“You haven’t heard from Ashton, have you? His phone is turned off but I know he’s not at work.”
“Sorry, no, I’m still at school. I haven’t talked to Ashton all day.” But when I do I’m going to rip him a new one.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were still at work.” Her voice toned out, and Colton immediately knew why she had called. That rat bastard is hiding out at my house! “If you get ahold of him will you tell him I’m looking for him?”

Colton chuckled. Boy would I love to be a fly on her wall tonight. “Of course. I can even scare him if I’d help.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary, but thank you, Colton. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright, Annie. Bye.” As soon as the phone call ended, he sorted through it again.

Shaya paused at the doorway, her hand inches from the doorknob. She had returned from the yearbook room just in time to hear her teacher’s parting words. Annie…he was talking to a girl. Is that his girlfriend? A wave of jealousy coursed through her. Don’t be stupid Shaya; of course he has a girlfriend. Besides, it’s not like you ever had a chance. She was about to open the door when Mr. Rylander’s voice was heard again, and in an afterthought she stopped to listen.

Colton groaned as soon as a voice was heard on the other line. I knew it. “Hello?”

“First you break into my apartment and now you’re answering my home phone?”

“Oh, don’t give me that. I knew it was you calling.”

“Weis, what are you doing?”

“Well, Molly and I are currently posted up on the couch watching animal hoarders. Can you believe there’s a woman out there who owns 200 cats? The good news is that she’s got a husband, though, so there’s hope for you yet!”

Colton sighed and massaged his temples. Why do I put myself in these kinds of situations? “One, please leave my dog alone. Two, when I said what are you doing I meant why are you hiding out at my house and ignoring your girlfriend?”

On the other side of the door, Shaya was processing the new information. He has a dog…an image of her teacher with a black lab crossed her mind, but it felt alien and she soon shook it away. And he said your girlfriend…that means that woman he was talking to earlier wasn’t his. Relief flooded over her and she shifted uneasily at the realization of how wrong it was.

Ashton groaned loudly into Colton’s ear, “Dammit, I knew she’d get to you first. I’ve been hiding out here waiting for you to get home.”

“What did you do?”

“Why do you assume I did something?” There was a slight pause, but before Colton could answer his friend continued, “Okay, so it usually is my fault, but this time I didn’t do anything! Well, I guess I kind of did…”

“Get to the point, Ashton,” Colton grumbled as he glanced at the door. Shaya will be back soon and I’m not sure if I want her to hear all of this.

“Alright, alright…So in a lapse of tongue I may have told Annie about this open house thing you’ve got tomorrow night, and now she’s determined to go to ‘support you’. I tried telling her that we’d look silly showing up without kid and it’d just embarrass you in front of all the faculty and parents, but she won’t let it drop. So I was hoping you’d talk to her.”

Colton collapsed into his chair. This is my life. “Well tell Annie that I appreciate the gesture, but if she really wants to support me she can keep her boyfriend from entering my house at all hours of the night.”

“Duly noted.”

Shaya leaned closer as she tried to listen, and as she moved, her foot went too far forward and knocked into the door. A curse was mouthed as the word rang through her mind. Great, now he knows I’m here. Tentatively, the door opened, and as Shaya stepped forward her gaze immediately met his. She held up the stack of pictures proudly before quietly settling back in her seat.

Colton turned his back to her and faced the blackboard in a half embarrassment. Time to wrap this up. “Well if that’s settled, I have to go-”

“Hold on! When are you going to be home? Because I was thinking I could wait here and-“

“Goodbye, Weis,” Colton curtly replied before hanging up and turning to face his student.

“Is everything okay?” Shaya attempted to pry.

Colton sighed, “Just reevaluating my choices in friends.” He replied before quickly changing the subject. “Let’s see what you’ve got there.”

As the two of them sorted through the photographs, Shaya’s mind was on overdrive. I wonder what he’s like outside of school. He was so withdrawn and moody those first couple of days, but I’ve seen a different side of him. Then again, that conversation he had was something else. What does he even like to do in his free time?

“Alright,” Colton announced as they flipped through the last photo and drew Shaya out of her thoughts. “I’ll go ahead and set these up tonight. Is there anything else I’m forgetting to do?”

Shaya raked through her memories once more. “Are they still doing the contests?”

Colton gave her a blank stare. Dear lord, what do I have to do now? “I have no idea. What are they.”

“They used to do these contest things in each classroom as another way to get kids interested and through the doors. Each teacher would have a guessing question related to their subject, like, what year was Napoleon born, and the student who got the closest would win a gift card provided by the school.”

“So I would ask something like ‘how many words are in Moby Dick’?”

“212, 758” Shay replied instantly, and at the incredulous look Mr. Rylander was giving her, she blushed and looked away “But essentially, yes.”

Colton stood in silence, amazed once more by the girl in front of him. She is…amazing. “I’ll talk to them about it tomorrow. Anything else?”

“No, you should be all ready.”

Colton gave a sigh of relief. “Thank you again for all your help.”

“Of course.” Shaya stood up, but hesitated. I don’t want to leave. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow?”

“Of course.”

With that, Shaya turned and walked out the door, wrongfully heartbroken.

********

Friday morning, Shaya was wearing a wide grin as she headed for Mr. Rylander’s classroom ten minutes early. The open house was the previous night, and she couldn’t wait to hear how everything went. I hope he did well…everything we set up should have set him on a path of victory. As soon as she had approached the door, however, she was stopped.

“Shaya!” She turned around to see Kat sprinting in her direction. “Have you talked to Lucas?”

Shaya looked at the ground, ashamed that she hadn’t been focusing more on her teacher than on her best friend’s constant absence. The truth was that she hadn’t heard from or seen Lucas all week, and now that it had been brought up by someone else, the worry began to settle in. “No, I haven’t. Why, what’s up?”

Katrina looked worried as well, “He just stormed in her looking really, REALLY angry. Like, capable of murder angry.”

Shaya didn’t need to hear another word; As soon as the words processed in her brain she was dashing towards his locker. Something’s definitely going on. What isn’t he telling me, and why?

She caught up with Lucas just in time, because as soon as her eyes spotted him he slammed his locker shut and began to storm off. Kat was right; he does look angry enough to kill. “Lucas!” she called out, and when everyone around her turned she knew he had heard her, although he made no change in direction. “Lucas, stop right now or so help me god!”

Hesitantly he stopped and looked at her, and a mix of hurtful emotions played across his face. “Look, Shay, I don’t have time I’m going to be late-“

“What is going on? I haven’t talked to you all week and now you’re storming through the halls?”

Lucas tried to give her a smile, but she wasn’t buying it. “I know, I’ll tell you everything at lunch, but I’ve really got to go.” With that he turned and walked away, leaving a distraught Shaya standing immobile.

Lucas…Shaya leaned back against his locker and took a couple of deep breaths to keep her composure. What is going on with you that you’re pulling away from everyone…from me?

“Shaya?”

The voice elated her instantly. Shaya looked up to see Mr. Rylander looking down at her with concern.

“Are you alright?” Colton asked worriedly. She seems really upset about something. The urge to reach out and comfort her struck him, but he immediately shook it away.

Shaya thought about opening up to him about everything; he had been a good listener so far, and she was comfortable around him. In the end, though, she decided against it. Maybe being that comfortable is a bad thing. I’m already a bit in over my head with him. Her thoughts were confirmed when it was exceptionally easy to put on a smile as she looked at him. “Yeah everything’s fine. How was the open house yesterday?”

Colton was slightly taken back at her quick change of conversation but didn’t question it. “It went fairly well for how unprepared I was. Thankfully everyone was in and out before they had time to notice I was a fraud.” Shaya gave a small laugh next to him and he paused. “Thank you, though, for all your help.”

“It was my pleasure,” She smiled up at him, but the minute their eyes met she looked away.

“Well I owe you one. If you ever need anything, just let me know.” Colton then held the classroom door open for her before following suit.

“Did you find out what’s up with Lucas?”

“No,” It was only once Katrina brought it up that Shaya remembered her earlier confrontation and the guilt settled in. My time with Mr. Rylander’s over…now I need to focus on Lucas.

Her decision soon turned into desperation, however, when he failed once again to show up for lunch.

“I swear, Shaya, I don’t know anything!” Dean cried out in mercy as Shaya hounded him.

“But you’ve spent every day with him at practice. He’s had to have told you something!”

“Honestly, Shaya,” It was Kevin, the calmest of everyone, who spoke this time, “he hasn’t said a word. He’s been in and out of practice before we can even find him.”

Knowing Kevin wasn’t one to cover the truth, Shaya slumped down in defeat. “Why is he distancing himself?”

“Well…” Shaya narrowed her eyes at Dean the moment his voice was heard, “please don’t hurt me…but there have been rumors-“

It took the strong grip of both Katrina and Kevin to keep Shaya from leaping across the table and pummeling him.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t remember until now, just hear me out.” Shaya was still angry but sat down, interested in what he had to say. “Apparently Maggie’s been telling everyone that Lucas and her are dating and have spent every night for the past week together.”

There was a unanimous silence before Katrina spoke up, “WHAT?”

“I know.” Dean continued, “I didn’t believe it at first either because, well, Maggie’s crazy. But when you consider the fact that he slept with her a few weeks ago and his current behavior...it kind of makes sense.”

“I’m going to throw up. Is he out of his freaking mind?” It was Katrina’s turn to go into hysterics. “Lucas doesn’t date anyway, but Maggie Allman? Shaya?”

Shaya was rendered speechless with all of the emotions coursing through her system: confusion, anger, hurt, jealousy. Lucas is dating Maggie… An image of the two of them holding hands made her want to cry, scream, and lose her lunch at the same time. He said he loved me, yet he’s dating another girl. This doesn’t make any sense. And yet, why do I care?

“I’m…I’m going to see if he’s waiting for physics class,” Shaya muttered once she realized everyone was watching her intently. Without saying another word she quietly left the table, leaving three pairs of eyes to watch her back. Katrina will have something to say later, but I have another conversation that needs to happen first.

Five minutes into class Shaya realized Lucas wasn’t showing up, and the rage was so overwhelming she couldn’t concentrate on a single word her teacher was saying. No matter how much she wanted to listen, the only thing she could do was picture Lucas sitting in his vacant chair with various tortures being thrown upon him. He promised he would tell me everything at lunch, and now he’s MIA. Well, I know where he lives, and he’s got another thing coming

.
******

“Shaya, is that you?”

As soon as she entered her house that afternoon after school, her mom’s voice was heard calling from the kitchen.

“Yeah, what’s up?” She replied, but an answer wasn’t needed. Placed on every possible surface were sheets and sheets of cookies, and her mom was frantically working in the middle.

“Thank god you’re here,” She gave a sigh of relief at the sight of her daughter. “Can you help me? I have to get all of these to the banquet hall in-“ she stopped to check her watch, “forty-five minutes. Your sister was supposed to get off early and help, but apparently they got pretty busy as the café this afternoon.”

“Of course,” Shaya replied, although inside she was worried about catching Lucas before he disappeared once again. That’s alright; I’ll wait at his house all night if I have to.

“Is everything alright?” Shaya’s mom asked after a few minutes of silent labor.

Shaya thought about convincing her mom that everything was fine, but knew she couldn’t. “Not really. Lucas and I are kind of going through a thing right now.”

Her mother gave a reassuring smile. “Oh honey, don’t worry. You and Lucas have been friends for years, and you’ll get through whatever this is just like you always do.”

“Yeah,” she knew her mom was right. But this time is different.

As soon as the dozens of cookies were wrapped in bows, packed in the van and in transport, Shaya didn’t even bother locking the door behind her as she dashed towards Lucas’s house. An evil grin crossed her face as she noticed his car parked in the driveway. Good, he should be home. No more hiding from me, Lucas Green.

After three knocks and a pleasant smile, The door opened to reveal Kelly, Lucas’s mother, on the other side.

“Shaya, Hi!”

“Hi, Kelly. Is Lucas here?”

“Oh sweetie, you just missed him.” She gave Shaya an apologetic smile.

“Can you tell me when he’ll be back?”

Kelly gave her a bewildered look, and the alarm bells were already going off in Shaya’s mind, “Not until Sunday. The boys are with their dad for the weekend. He didn’t tell you?”

It was silent as Shaya tried to regain the breath that had been knocked out of her. Now she knew something was wrong. He’s with his dad…and he didn’t tell me. Lucas never stops ranting when he has to go to his dad’s house. “No, he must’ve forgotten,” She mumbled to his mom once she had found her voice. But there’s no way he’d have forgotten. Lucas hates his dad and he always comes to me to complain. Plus it explains his terrible mood at school. But why didn’t he tell me? Slowly, the hurt and confusion coursing through her turned to anger.

“Well, it was a last minute thing,” Shaya was drawn back to the doorstep she was standing on and could see that even his own mother knew Lucas was in trouble. “Stefan didn’t call to confirm until last night.”

More reason for him to rant to when he didn’t. “Thanks, Kelly. I’ll just have to stop by when he gets home on Sunday.”

As she walked back to her house, each step seemed to light another spark of rage within her. Now I know something’s going on with him. No one understands Lucas’s relationship with his dad better than I do. But why didn’t he come to me? Suddenly, the image of Lucas spilling his heart as he held Maggie in his arms invaded her mind, and despite her efforts the jealousy wouldn’t leave.

Once she was in the safety of her house, Shaya grabbed her phone that was left on the kitchen counter. His dad can’t have taken his phone away already. She typed in the short message, ‘You have a LOT of explaining to do’ before determinately punching the send button.

The reply was almost instantaneous, and although it only contained two words, Shaya knew that she was right.

‘I know.’