Steam Punk Goggles and Ink Stained Hands

DREW’S POV

~

After not seeing Barrone at all today, it was natural instinct that led me to the room the detentions were held in once the last bell rung. After all, when was he not in there?

…Today apparently…

Strangely enough, when I looked up to Barrone’s usual seat it was vacant, as were all those around it. I scanned the room a bit more thoroughly to check he wasn’t sitting somewhere else today, but no. His usually present self was absent.

“Excuse me?” I asked the teacher stuck with detention duty today, Mr Bryar I think. I wasn’t sure, but whoever he was, he looked pretty tough.

“Yeah?” he feigned interest in his reply, you could tell it. Though I must admit, if I was stuck with detention duty I would be too.

“Do you know if Shane… Sumner! Yeah, Shane Sumner has detention today? He’s usually in here…” I tried not to sound too weird when I asked. It’s probably safe to say I failed though, due to the look Mr Bryar gave me. He picked up a piece of paper on his desk anyway though and studied it for a minute before casually tossing it back onto the desk.

“Yeah, he does. He’s not in here though. Mr Way from the art department wanted him to do the first part of the detention in his room, so Mr Sumner can clean up the mess he made earlier”

Oh really, Barrone? Art again? Mr Way always looks a bit flustered; couldn’t you pull shit with a teacher who’s a little less nervous about get stuff right at a new job?

“Thank you” I murmured to the blond haired teacher before heading out the double doors and up the staircase towards the art class room.

As I reached the top of the stairs anticipation was heavy in my chest. I was almost nervous, which was strange for me. Usually, I was really confident. The door to the art room was open as always and two voices could be heard talking from the hallway, due to the emptiness of the floor.

“Is there any particular reason you misbehave, Shane? It always seems unprovoked, you don’t even seem to take joy in causing trouble like the others do…” Mr Way’s voice was soft and gentle, like he was asking about a friend rather than scolding a student.

The fact that I could hear Barrone sigh from here made me smile a little. By now, I was standing in the door way, the frame hiding half my body.

“Cause I’m just that fucked up…” he laughed sadly and self- depreciatingly.

“Come on, Shane. I’m sure-”

“Seriously, Mr Way. Don’t worry about it. I’ll clean up the floor and we can just move on…” I thought he was done, but he spoke again, a lot quieter this time. “But thanks though, for being the first teacher to actually give a damn…”

“Anytime Shane, oh, hey Drew!” the dark haired teacher waved cheerfully at me, bringing my presence to Barrone’s attention.

“Hey, Mr Way. Um, would it be possible for me to talk to Barrone real quick, in private?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t just going to kick me out of his room. He didn’t seem the type of teacher to do that though.

“Sure… um Barrone?” he questioned, realising but not understanding the fact that Barrone and Shane are the same person.

“Nickname” Barrone smiled simply at the art teacher before turning to fix me with an odd expression. As I moved towards him he mumbled something and turned away from me. While this was happening, Mr Way just got out a sketch book and started doodling. He should run detentions; it would be a whole lot
more fun for the regulars (which I’m practically a part of now thanks to Barrone).

“Barrone?” he ignored me calling his name and remained standing with his back to me. “Barrone? Barrone!” I grew more and more impatient as he ignored me. Up to the point where I was stalking up to him and grabbing him by the shoulder to turn him round. No matter how annoyed I was getting though, all my anger drained away when Barrone flinched as my hand made contact with his shoulder.

“Barrone…” I softened and tried again. “Barrone please, why won’t you talk to me? Why won’t you tell me who…” I didn’t finish my sentence as I realised Mr Way was peering at us over the top of his sketchbook.

If Barrone won’t talk to me about it, I doubt he wants to have Mr Way getting involved.

I didn’t want to ask again, so I just waited for his reply (if he was even going to give me one). I was losing hope of getting a response out of him when I heard him whisper softly.

“Just leave it alone, Drew. You’re not ready to understand…”

That confused me.

Ready to understand what?

I would have asked him to elaborate but he was already making his way out the door again.

For God’s sake! That boy needs to stop running away from me!

I would have followed him if it wasn’t for Mr Way’s New Jersey accented voice calling me back.

“Drew, right?”

“Yeah…”

The dark haired man straightened in his seat slightly and pushed his sketchbook over on his desk before lacing his fingers together on the surface of it.

“I don’t know what going on with you and Shane but he’s obviously not ready to share whatever it is. I can relate to him in a way. When I was in high school, I had a lot of secrets. Teachers, my parents, my friends and even people who were practically strangers were always trying to find them out. The thing was, I wasn’t ready to share what I had to say. In the end, I got tired of people bugging me and accidently let slip my biggest secret. Of course, the whole school decided to taunt and bully the newly out “emo fag”. Admitting I was gay was the hardest thing I ever thought I’d have to do. I was wrong though. It wasn’t admitting it that was the hard part; it was living through the aftermath of it. Because I felt pressured I told the wrong people first, when the abuse started I had to face it head on. I went from being ignored to the center of attention. If I had of told my friends first when I was ready though, they would’ve helped me not to give a damn about what others thought. I would have known that some people accepted me and weren’t going to laugh at or mock me. I didn’t though, so I at lose of what to do when all of a sudden the whole school was laughing at me. The point is that telling personal things to people is hard, Drew. Let Shane tell you when he’s ready, or all that will happen is that he’ll end up regretting it. Even if it was a good choice to tell you he’ll spend time worrying about if he should have told you. Either that or he’ll berate himself for cracking under pressure. I did both, I’d know” Mr Way finished his story and looked up at me with a soft and slightly sad smile on his face.

What he’d said really did make sense; I shouldn’t pressure Barrone.

“Thanks Mr Way” I smiled at him, grinning wider when I heard a beep go off and saw him grab his phone as fast as he could. “Been waiting for a text?” I asked, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.

“Maybeeeee…” he grinned.

“Who is he?” I was taking a shot in the dark by guessing it was a guy he liked, but with a megawatt smile like that it’s a pretty safe bet.

“I’m pretty sure that changing the relationship from student-teacher to friends, Drew…” he warned, still trying to keep things professional.

“Oh come on! You know you want to gush about him to someone, I can tell!” I laughed, well aware of how it feels to like someone and just want someone to listen while you go on and on about them. Mr Way just looked questioningly at me for a second before relaxing, obviously having decided that since it was after school hours we could act like friends.

“So, he’s a teaching assistant. You may know him - Frank Iero?”

Aw that’s so cute!

Dropping the whole authority thing Mr Way and I just talked like friends.

He’s soooo into Mr Iero! From his text messages they actually appear to be getting somewhere as well, judging by the flirting.

Oh dear, the awkward moment your teacher has a better love life than you…