Maybe It Was You All Along

I hadn’t wanted to be late this morning, but being up late with my parents had jeopardized that. I was jogging to my classroom and I could already see that most of the students were already in the building. How late was I, anyways? I glanced down at my watch, it read 8:00. Okay, not as horrible as I thought it was. I didn’t get a chance to look up because I collided with someone, sending both of us to the floor. We must have hit heads, because I could feel a sharp pain running through my head.
“Okay, ow,” I said and looked up. I was a little surprised to see Tony there. I rubbed my head, and I felt a bump forming, right in the middle of my forehead.
“"Shit, I am so sorry Vi- Mr. Fuentes,” he said and I stood up. I helped him stand up and once we were both on our feet, I shifted around a bit.
“Why were you running in the halls anyways?” I asked him. I thought he was going to answer, but he was cut off by none other than Craig.
“I’ll have you know, Perry, I do have a dick and it’s very big and suckable.” Oh, uh. Okay, what? He must have just noticed me because right away he said uncomfortably, “Oh, uh, hi Mr. Fuentes…”
Taken quite a bit off guard and a little freaked out, I looked at Craig with wide eyes. Tony must have noticed because he was bent over laughing. I sat down with Tony and watched as he tried to calm down. Craig’s face grew red and he mumbled something about going to class and ran down the hall. Tony’s laughing became worse and I just rolled my eyes.
“I don’t even want to know…” I mumbled mostly to myself and grabbed my bag, helping Tony to stand once more.
“Trust me, it’s as bad as it sounded,” Tony giggled and grabbed his stuff as well. I couldn’t help but chuckle and turn to face Tony. I felt my expression take a more serious mold as I went to talk about us.
“Look Tony, about Friday… What the fuck happened to your face?” I asked as I noticed the bruising over his eye. I didn’t even care about the language I had just used, because that bruise looked like it hurt, a lot. I lifted his face to inspect it better. It seemed like he had been punched.
“Nothing,” he mumbled, “just got into a fight.”
I figured as much, but I was dying to know who. My curiosity got the best of me and I asked. “With who?”
He hesitated a bit and looked down at his feet, probably not knowing how to word it or something. “It was some stupid fight, Vic. It doesn’t matter.” He continued looking down. Just then, someone called to him. “Tony!” I looked up and he was waving his arms, but he saw me and grew uncomfortable. “Oh, uh, hi, um…” he said. I smiled and reached out to shake his hand and introduce myself. “Mr. Fuentes,” I told him and confusion washed over his face.
“Woah, you’re a teacher?” He asked and raised his eyebrows. I nodded and smiled a little more. “You’re like, the shortest teacher ever.” He said. I rolled my eyes. Another person to make fun of my height, great. Just what I needed.
“Jaime!” Tony yelled suddenly and giggled some more, taking me a little off guard. I figured that was the kids name.
“What?! It’s true!” He said to Tony and laughed.
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “If you two are done making fun of my height,” I said and rubbed my cheek a little, “I have a classroom to get to.” I turned towards my room.
“Bye Mr. Fuentes,” Jaime said almost apologetically. I told him the same and leaned in to whisper something in Tony’s ear. “After school, I want to know what happened.” I figured he would know I meant with his eye, and I turned down the hallway and into my classroom.
Just after third period when lunch started, I remembered I hadn’t packed any food for me to eat this morning, but I had some money and I decided to treat myself to some fast food. It had been a while since I had been out and there were plenty of restaurants around my school. I decided on Subway, because most of the places were unhealthy or extremely expensive. I walked across the street and when a few students said hello to me, I waved to them. I walked into the subway and looked in the dining room and what I saw next surprised me.
Tony was sitting at a table with Craig and Phil, a sandwich untouched in front of him. He looked like he had been crying, but Phil and Craig were messing around and probably hadn’t noticed. I was tempted to ask him what was wrong but I didn’t want to seem suspicious or anything. I walked up to the counter, got my sandwich made and paid for, and I glanced over at Tony. He was still sitting there with the same expression, and Craig nudged him. I heard him say something about getting high, and I sighed. Tony shook his head no and stood up to go to the bathroom. I swayed back and forth on my feet, debating whether or not to ask him what was wrong. I gave into my sympathetic side and laid my food down on a table before walking into the bathroom. I heard muffled sobbing from the last stall in the row.
“Tony?” I called out after checking that no one was in here besides the two of us. I knocked on the stall he was in and silence fell over us.
“Vic?” I heard him say in a shaky voice.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“N-nothing, it’s nothing sir. I’m okay, I promise.” He told me. I knew he was lying.
“Tony, really. Tell me what’s wrong.” I pleaded with him. The stall door swung open and he looked at me.
“Really, it’s nothing. It’s not like you care anyways.” He said and stormed out of the bathroom.
“What the hell?” I mumbled to myself. Obviously something was wrong with Tony, but he wouldn’t budge. I had to find out what was wrong. Had I caused this?
~
In fifth period I was stressing out about what happened with Tony. I didn’t know what happened and I felt bad that he wasn’t telling me anything. I mean, we weren’t really that close or anything, but it still hurt me. I wanted to know what was wrong.
“Mr. Fuentes?” One of my students, Bryan, had walked over to my desk.
“Yeah, Bryan?” I looked up to see him with a worried expression on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“Sir, you seem stressed out about something. Is everything at home okay? Is something wrong with your girlfriend or whatever?” he asked me. Bryan had always been a concerned kid, but I was a little taken aback. I laughed a little at the fact he said girlfriend. I wasn’t openly gay with my students, but I found it nice that he assumed I wasn’t single and alone.
“Well first off, I don’t have a girlfriend, but I am a little stressed out. Don’t worry about me though, worry about your paper due tomorrow. But thank you, Bryan.” I smiled at him and he ran around my desk, engulfing me in a hug.
“Sorry sir. And you’re welcome. I’ll get this paper done soon!” he said and ran back to his desk. He turned and waved at me, and I chuckled and waved back.
The bell rang shortly after, and I groaned internally. My seniors class was next, and even though it was the last class of the day, I still had Tony to worry about. The freshman left and some of the more punctual seniors flooded into the room. After a few minutes, the bell rang and Craig, Phil, and Jeremy walked in. Hmm, no Tony. I wonder where he ran off to…?
I took attendance and I called Craig over to my desk when I gave the kids their work for today.
“Yes sir?” Craig said, looking a little freaked out. He was jumpy and looking back and forth between me and Jeremy, in his desk.
“Craig, calm down. I just wanted to ask where Tony is. I saw him at lunch and I was just wondering where he went.” I told him, trying not to sound desperate.
“Oh,” he said and instantly calmed down. He laughed nervously and leaned on my desk. “Sorry sir, he just, Tony went home at lunch. He wouldn’t tell me why though. Is that all?” He asked me. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, defeated. I had been worried about him all day and I had wanted to talk to him about what had happened, both between us and with the bruising on his face.
“Yes, Craig, that’s all. You can have a seat now.” I nodded and he jolted back to his seat. The entire period I thought about calling Tony or going to see him after school, but I didn’t know if that would be weird. Did he live with his parents? Did they like, find it weird for a teacher to go see a student? I tried to think of excuses I could use if I DID go over there. But wait, Tony was a senior, and if I remembered correctly, seniors had the ability to give the school their cell phone number underneath references or whatever it was. I jumped out of my seat, yelling to the class that I’d be back, and ran to the office. I went to the back of the small room, ignoring the looks the secretary shot me, and opened up the file cabinet with every student’s folder. I went all the way to the “P” section, and found Tony’s name. I lifted the folder out and sure enough, his cell phone number was there. I took out my phone and added the number into my contacts, and shoved the folder away and closed the door. I jogged back to my classroom, pretty winded and sat down at my desk. Phil looked over at me with a blank expression, and I shook my head at him before he turned back to his paper. I pulled out my phone and texted Tony’s number.

We need to talk. – Vic

I looked over and made sure no one was watching me, and I felt my phone buzz a few seconds later.

No, we don’t. Everything’s fine. –Tony
Why did you leave at lunch? –Vic
Why do you have my cell phone number? –Tony
I asked you first. –Vic
I don’t want to talk about it. Okay? You can come see me later if you like. –Tony
Will you tell me what’s really going on? –Vic
Maybe. Dinner at the new Mexican restaurant on Tecumseh? –Tony
This is not a date, Tony. –Vic
I’m just taking an opportunity to tell my favorite teacher about what happened this weekend. If you want to see it as a date, that’s your call, ‘Mr. Fuentes’. –Tony
Fine, Mr. Perry. I’ll meet you at the restaurant immediately after school. Do not be late and be prepared to tell me what happened. See you then. –Vic
Bye sir ;) –Tony

I sighed in defeat and went over in my head, ‘this is not a date, this is not a date’. It wasn’t working and my nerves were going haywire. I couldn’t focus on the class anymore and all I was worried about was whether Tony was going to try something or if he was actually going to tell me what was wrong. My hands were shaking uncontrollably and I was sweating. Eventually the bell rang and I waited impatiently for all the seniors to leave my classroom. As soon as they did, I sprinted out the door and into my car, starting it and driving to the restaurant. I really hoped Tony would be serious and I wouldn’t have to push him away, again. I didn’t know if I’d be able to control myself this time.