Our Version of Events

I was wandering aimlessly throughout the school, having the next period free and lacking the motivation to sit myself down and correct essays. Shawn had come home long after I had fallen asleep and was gone by the time I was awake that morning. I had spent all night alone with my thoughts, feeling like the walls were closing in on me as the prospect of spending the rest of my life living like this screamed in my head. My short conversation with Evan had swirled around my mind, honing in on the little details he had mentioned about traveling, and I felt such a strong sense of longing in my stomach that I thought I was going to throw up. The only reason I decided to become a teacher was because I thought I was going to be thrust into motherhood and I needed a secure, nine-to-five job.
I had such massive aspirations when I was a teenager. I was going to travel Europe, I was going to finish all of my music grades in a French musical academy, I was going to be a woman of the world. Right then, I felt like I had nothing to show for myself. It was all well and good saying that Shawn was bullied into this marriage too, but he was twenty-five when we tied the knot. He had his wild college years behind him, he had completed the degree he always wanted to do, he had accomplished so many things at that stage; I was only eighteen, still a child myself. I felt like I was stuck in a rut.
I stopped in my tracks and frowned, straining my ears when I heard a male voice drifting towards me. The sound of girls chattering loudly echoed throughout the corridor, and I slowly started walking towards the source of it. One of the classroom doors was wide open, and I could see Evan standing at the top of the room, pleading with the class to stop talking and listen to him.
He really wasn’t lying when he said that he couldn’t handle teenage girls.

“Simone, Clara, park yourselves in your seats right now or I’ll have you in detention until prom,” I barked as I walked towards Evan, silence falling over the entire classroom.

I didn’t speak for a few seconds as I slowly scanned the room, watching the girls squirm and avert their eyes under my gaze.

“And as for the rest of you,” I continued, folding my arms across my chest,
“Detention this evening. I doubt I need to clarify my reasons.”

Turning my back to the class, I took a step closer to Evan and lowered my voice.

“You cannot bargain with juniors, you just have to nip it in the bud and give them the harshest punishment you can or else they’ll use you as a doormat.”

“I could have handled that myself,” Evan hissed, his eyes dark with anger,
“The last thing they needed to see was you barging in and taking over.”

I recoiled slightly, feeling my jaw slack.

“Handling it? I could hear you pleading with them half way down the hall, Evan.”

Not giving him any time to retort, I turned back to the class, giving them one last warning look.

“Don’t think for a second that I won’t notice if someone doesn’t attend detention today.”

I didn’t so much as look at Evan as I left. Let him fend for himself then, see how far he gets.



The class had filed in silently to detention that evening, knowing that it would be a death wish to fuck with me. I was the youngest teacher in the school, and I generally got on well with the students, but that doesn’t mean I let them walk all over me. I never punished a student if they didn’t deserve it, but the severity of their punishment did sometimes correlate with my mood, and they could all tell that I was in one hell of a pisser of a mood once they entered the room.
Evan’s comment already had me irritated, and Shawn’s text to say that he wouldn’t be home until late again had me feeling like I would explode if someone stepped so much as a toe out of line.
The rain started pelting against the windowpane at the start of detention, and come four o’ clock I knew that thunder and lightning wasn’t too far off.

“I don’t like the thoughts of anyone having to wait for a bus or their ride in that weather,” I spoke as I stood up and looked out the window,
“We’ll call it a day. Pack up your things.”

There was a collective sigh of relief as they quickly packed up their bags and scurried out of the room before I could change my mind, though I was just as eager as them to get home. Once the last of the students had left, I quickly packed up my own things and ran out to my car. Traffic was bumper to bumper, and I sighed heavily as I blasted the heat and started flicking through the radio stations. My mind wandered as I focused my gaze out the side window, watching some poor soul running with his jacket pulled over his head.

“Poor bastard,” I muttered under my breath as the traffic slowly started to inch up the road, before stalling again.

I frowned when I watched the person keep on running, before I rolled down my window as they caught up with the short distance I had moved.

“Evan! Get in!”

He stopped running and looked at the throng of cars in confusion, before his eyes settled on me.

“Avery?”

“No, the fuckin’ tooth fairy. Get in!”

He continued to just stand there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, before he jogged over to the passenger door and climbed in.

“Are you crazy?” I started as I inched forward with the traffic and turned the heat up a little more.

He was shivering, his body drenched and his messy hair clinging to his face.

“My car battery’s dead and I pushed my luck by trying to run home before the thunder started.”

I didn’t reply as I focused my attention on the road, and once we were off the main street I asked for his address.

“That’s not too far away from where I live. No way in hell would you have made it home in one piece.”

“Cut me some slack, I’m new here.”

I smiled in response, my eyes still on the road, but I could see him in my peripheral vision starting to shift uncomfortably.

“Avery…I want to apologise for what I said earlier on. I shouldn’t have gotten so snappy with you.”

“Don’t think twice about it,” I smiled softly,
“I’ve been in your position. They used me as their doormat for the first few weeks I was in the school. I know how hard it can be trying to establish yourself.”

Even though his comment had pissed me off, I was thankful for his apology and I could already feel myself burying the hatchet.

“They didn’t open their mouths once for the rest of the lesson. Thank you.”

This time I laughed, shaking my head gently as I quickly glanced in his direction. The usual twenty minute car journey took forty, and we spent the time talking about music and movies, and some of our teaching experiences so far.

“This apartment block?” I asked as I pulled up to a building complex.

“Yeah, this is me. Thank you so much for giving me a lift.”

“Don’t mention it. What’s the deal with your car then?”

“The battery’s pretty much fucked. It’ll be in the shop for the rest of the week.”

I frowned slightly as I leaned over the steering wheel and looked up at the dark purple clouds invading the sky.

“The weather’s meant to pretty much stay the same all of this week. Do you need a ride in the mornings?”

“I couldn’t ask you do that,” he smiled softly at me,
“I’ll get the bus.”

Goddamn those dimples. I knew instantly that he could charm his way out of any undesirable situation merely by smiling.

“I drive pass here every morning on my way into work. I’ll give you a lift until your car’s out of the shop.”

Evan didn’t reply for a few moments, his brown eyes boring into mine with such intensity that I thought he could read my mind, before his face relaxed and he threw me a gentle smile.

“You’re a lifesaver, Avery.”

“I’ll call over tomorrow at around eight?”

Evan nodded as he got out of the car, pulling his damp hood over his head and bracing himself against the wind. I felt my stomach flip when he gave me a broad smile, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many girls’ hearts he had broken with that grin.
I watched him run into his apartment block, my bad mood temporarily lifted. Despite what had happened earlier on in the day, I really liked Evan. I instantly felt comfortable around him, and neither of us had a problem obnoxiously jesting one another. It shot me back down to reality, reminding me that I still was only twenty three. I had two close girlfriends my own age, but they lived back in Boston, so the majority of my friends here in Chicago were other female teachers in the school and some of Shawn’s co-workers’ wives, all who were a few years older than me and focused on their families and careers.
All I really wanted to do was act my age. I wanted to go out partying and serial date, instead of spending my nights out around a dinner table while people asked me when Shawn and I were going to hop to it and start having babies.
I pulled into the garage but didn’t move to get out of the car, knowing that inside the house would be dark and empty, just like every night. All I could hear was my Bible-bashing mother’s voice screaming in my mind, telling me that I had made my bed and now I had to lie in it.
I have never felt so unhappy.