Beautiful Child

Annalena sat in front of the principle’s desk with a sigh, her green eyes travelled over the desk and bookcases that were filled with books all shapes, sizes and colors. She had read almost all of them when she would be taken out of class and sit in the window seat of Mr Henderson’s office. Mr Henderson himself sat on the other side of the desk watching her as she looked around his office, he noticed how pale her face was and shook his head softly.

“You nearly gave your sister a heart attack this morning you know?”

She looked at him with a blank expression before she looked down at her hands that rested on her lap, she pulled the sleeves of her school jumper over them.

Mr Henderson sighed and lifted a small container out of his blazer pocket and sat it on the table in front of Annalena. She picked it up, took off the lid and tipped it so that one of the tablets fell onto her hand. She took it dry and handed the container back to him, he would keep it safe than her. They were tablets for her anxiety which was to her getting better, she hated taking tablets but it was something that would help her get through each day.

“How’s the new drama teacher?” he asked with a smile on his face.
“I don’t even want to know how you got James McAvoy to work in our school,” she laughed softly as she looked at one of the photo frames on his desk, her, Mr Anderson and her sister stood smiling at the camera; her sister was in a wedding dress and Mr Henderson a suit, Annalena herself was in a pale blue dress. It was their wedding day.

“Me and James have known each other for years and he was looking for a small job while he has some free time.”
Annalena just stared at him, she had never known and she knew her sister didn’t know. “He treats me like the rest of the students unlike Mr Anderson,” she muttered as Mr Henderson or Joseph chuckled.
“And why did Mr Anderson not like you?” Joseph had heard this story many times and it always made him laugh because of the way she said it so bluntly.

“He didn’t like me because I wasn’t a slut.”

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When Annalena got home she quickly got changed into something more comfortable and went out to the dog kennel which had belonged to her dad, she worked there most days and since today was a sunny day she was going to bath the dogs.

She was hosing down a husky name Mac when someone came up to the kennel door, “Am I at the right place?” Annalena spun round which caused her to slip on the wet ground, she laughed when Mac came over to her covered in soap foam and began to lick her cheek.

Annalena looked up to see Mr McAvoy standing in front of her, he quickly rushed over to her with apologies spilling out of his mouth “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He pulled her gently up onto her feet.

Annalena didn’t realize that she was staring at him until Mac barked beside her making her jump “Sorry, my mind was elsewhere there. Um where is it you’re looking for?” she nervously tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

“The Henderson place, do you know it?” he asked softly, his Scottish accent was thick making it sound weird to Annalena since he didn’t use his real accent in films. She furrowed her eyebrows and remembered her sister saying about someone joining them for dinner.

“Give me one minute and I show you there.” She smiled while holding up one finger to show ‘one minute’. She quickly hosed down Mac, ridding him of the soap and pulled him back to his ‘room’. She wiped her hands on her worn jeans and she walked outside to see Mr McAvoy standing there with a cigarette between his lips, she quickly closed the kennel doors and motioned him to follow her.

They walked in silence, it wasn’t awkward but comfortable. Annalena could smell the smoke from his cigarette as it surrounded her and for once she didn’t cough.

“I really have to stop making you fall.” Mr McAvoy chuckled as he put his cigarette out and ran a hand through his brown hair.

Annalena laughed lightly “I only fell one time.” She pointed out, smiling widely. She almost jumped out of her skin when she felt something brush her cheek, she turned to Mr McAvoy who quickly removed his fingers from her cheek,
“You had.. a bit of um soap foam on your cheek.”

Annalena blushed and tried to quickly hide it. She shouldn’t be blushing at her teacher, it was wrong. She saw him smile to himself making her know that he had seen her blush.

“It’s nice when you really smile, not the forced one you had today in class.” He commented absentmindedly making Annalena smile again.

She quickly changed the subject “Mr Henderson invite you for dinner?”

Mr McAvoy smiled “Yeah, he’s a friend of mine and he’s introducing me to his wife and her sister.”
They had arrived at the front door of the house and Annalena opened the door and let him in “Well you’ve already met one of them.”

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Annalena’s sister Katie rushed around the kitchen, her blonde hair whipped around her as she spun around, setting the table. When her eyes landed on Mr McAvoy she had to suppress a squeal, Joseph was chuckling at her while he leaned against the sink, but when her eyes landed on her sister she quickly ushered her upstairs to get a shower and change. Annalena knew she smelled like wet dog and looked a mess but Mr McAvoy didn’t seem to notice but she did what her sister wanted her to do.

Annalena wrapped a towel around her body before she came out of the bathroom, she felt stupid for not bringing her clothes with her. She tried her best to quickly pass the staircase but she failed due to Joseph “Anna, you almost ready?” he called up to her making her stop right at the staircase. She saw Mr McAvoy look up to her and she quickly blush.

“Give me five minute Joey.” She darted to her room with her heart beating wildly against her ribcage. She put her head in her hands “That was so embarrassing.” She groaned before pulling her sweater and jeans on while trying to dry her hair, it was only slightly damp when she hopped out of her room while pulling on her socks.

“this is going to be eventful.” She mumbled as she went down the stairs.”