It Started With a Whisper

"I'm telling you! Mr. Franco wants your vagina," Amelia said as I stuffed my MacBook and other things into my backpack. I just shook my head, not bothering to respond. I didn't want to entertain her absurd thoughts.

"I'll let you know when I'm home from the hospital." I was excited for my shift because that meant I got see Cameron. The last couple times I had been at the hospital, I spent time with some of the other kids that were there. I could honestly say that I cried when I got home. There were so many children that were sick, some worse than others. They were so small, and I just couldn't understand why they had to deal with the things they did, why their parents had to be afraid of losing their child.

"And let me know if you christen our professor's desk!" She yelled after me. I let my apartment door fall shut and walked down to my car. The drive to school was short, and Mr. Franco was waiting for me when I got inside the classroom.

"I thought you wouldn't show up." He said, a small smile on his face.

"You're giving me an opportunity to get a better grade on my first big assignment. Of course I showed up." We went into his office and got to work on my paper. Once we made some corrections, I understood what he said about writing from my heart, but I still didn't think that my paper deserved a C+.

"How are you and Daniel?" I wasn't expecting any conversation that we had today to go in that direction, but the words had already left his lips. I couldn't act like he didn't say them.

"We're okay." I didn't know any other way to put it. Daniel and I didn't have a title, but I wouldn't exactly call us friends either. I wasn't sure if I could say we were dating. I hadn't kissed him. Things were just a little complicated.

"Just okay?" He seemed genuinely curious about what was going on, but there was something else in his tone that I couldn't put my finger on. I did't like it either.

"Yeah. I mean, there's nothing going on if that's what you're asking. I guess we're just hanging out right now. No title or anything along those lines. It's nothing serious." He nodded once, but kept his eyes trained on me. I squirmed in my seat.

"May I ask you something?" I said, trying to clear the tension in the room, though I'm sure what I was about to say would do nothing but make the current situation worse.

"Sure."

"Why are you so concerned about what goes on with me and Daniel?" I hadn't meant for the question to come out as harsh as it did, but I really wanted to know the answer. I was a little bothered by the fact that he was so concerned with my personal life, but I was also intrigued.

"It's complicated." I hated that answer. It was so vague and could go in a lot of different directions.

"Then make it simple." I leaned back in the chair I was sitting in and crossed my arms over my chest, waiting for his answer.

"It's not that easy."

"Why not?"

"Because my answer is inappropriate." That was when I froze. Half of me wanted to know, but the other half was telling me to get the hell out of that room and run like my life depending on it. I was afraid of his answer. I was afraid that Amelia would be right. I was afraid that Daniel would be right. I was afraid that if they were right, everything would change.

"I uhm...I have to get to the hospital. Thanks for the help, Mr. Franco. I'll see you tomorrow." I grabbed my paper and MacBook off of his desk and ran like a bat out of hell back to my car. When I was safely inside, I leaned my head against the steering wheel and tried to take deep breaths. I wasn't ready for this. This wasn't what I was expecting to happen when I went to college. I thought I'd relax for a couple years, find a boyfriend or two, complete my schooling and go on with the rest of my life. I never predicted myself having feelings for a teacher, or said teacher possibly having feelings for me. This was all just too bizarre. I quickly drove to the other side of the campus and walked in the hospital, eager to get my mind off of everything that had just happened.

"You're a very punctual person." Dr. Nelson said as he handed over my badge. I attached it to my shirt and busied myself with washing my hands. It wasn't the first time he said those words to me, but they always made me feel good. I'd rather be early than late.

"Thanks." I walked down the hall to Cameron's room. He was playing with some trucks on his bed.

"Hi Cameron." He looked up from his toys and grinned widely at me.

"Aria!" I knew that if he could, he would have jumped off of his bed and wrapped his arms around my legs. I quickly made my way over to him, picking him up in a hug.

"How's my favorite boy?" I asked, ruffling his hair.

"Better now cause you're here. The doctors said that they had to give me more medicine, and it was making me feel sick." If they were giving him more medicine, that meant he wasn't doing good. I had to stop the tears from welling up in my eyes. I promised Cameron that I wouldn't cry.

"I'm sorry. I know taking medicine isn't fun, but the doctors want you to get better."

"I know, and I want to get better. I don't want to be sick anymore. I want to go back to school. I want to be able to play with other kids and make friends. I don't want my mommy to be upset anymore." I could tell that Cameron loved his mom more than anything.

"Don't worry. You're going to get better, and your mom is going to be happy again. Everything will be fine." I sat down on the edge of the bed, picking up one of his trucks.

"She cries a lot. I know it's not about just me. Her and daddy were arguing yesterday. Daddy said that we can't afford for me to stay here anymore. What does that mean, Aria?" Tears instantly sprang to my eyes. That wasn't fair. Cameron's family was going to be swamped with hospital bills, and those things can ruin your life. I needed to do something, and I know exactly what I could do.

"Nothing that you need to worry about. I'm going to take care of it. Will your mom be coming by today?" He looked up at the clock on the wall and nodded his head.

"Yes. She's gonna be here in a couple minutes. She really wants to meet you."

"Who wants to meet who?" A tall woman with blonde hair and hazel eyes walked into the room. She had a sad smile on her face as she hugged her son.

"Mommy, this is Aria. Aria, this is my mommy." I smiled at her, sticking my hand out for her to shake.

"I'm Ava. It's nice to finally meet you. Cameron talks about you all the time.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I actually wanted to talk to you about something. Do you mind if we step outside for a moment?" She shook her head and bent down to kiss Cameron's cheek.

"We'll be right back, sweetie."

"Okay, mommy." I followed Ava outside and closed Cameron's door behind us. I didn't want him to hear what was going on.

"I know it's really none of my business, but Cameron told me what happened yesterday, about how you guys can't afford for him to stay here." I watched her face fall, and tears started to leak out of her eyes.

"They have the best doctor's here. I don't want to transfer him to the children's hospital." I shook my head and wrapped my arms around her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm going to help you guys." She sniffed and lifted her head, staring me in the face.

"You would do that?" She asked in disbelief. I nodded my head.

"I spend almost everyday that I'm here with Cameron. I love him, and I want him to get the best treatment possible. I'll handle the hospital bills." It wasn't a big deal to me. My family had plenty of money, and I was on scholarship for school. I was more fortunate than a lot of people, and I wanted to help.

"I can't ask you for that kind of help," Ava said, wiping underneath her eyes.

"You're not asking me. I'm offering. Don't worry about the hospital bills. When you get them, just have Dr. Nelson give them to me. I'll take care of everything." She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, sobbing into my shoulder.

"Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. I'm going to go talk to Dr. Nelson really quick. I'll be right back." She nodded and went back into Cameron's room while I walked down the hall. Luckily, Dr. Nelson was in his office and not with one of his patients. I could only hope that I had some time to talk to him. I knocked on the door, and he looked up from the paperwork he was filling out.

"Hey. Did you need something?" I stepped inside, resting my hands on the back of the chair that was in front of his desk.

"I just needed to tell you something. I just spoke with Ava. I'm going to be taking care of Cameron's hospital bills from now on." Dr. Nelson stared at me like I had two heads.

"I'm sorry. What did you just say?"

"I said that I'm going to be taking care of Cameron's hospital bills." He sat in silence, probably trying to absorb what I told him.

"How do your parents feel about this?"

"I haven't told them yet. I just made the decision, but I know they'll be okay with it. When I tell them the reason, they'll understand." And I knew they would. I wasn't just pulling that out of my ass. My parents loved to help people in need. It was the reason they had both become doctors in the first place. They'd have no problem with what I was planning to do.

"You're sure about this, Aria? Hospital bills aren't cheap." I shrugged.

"I know, and I don't care. I have more money than I know what to do with, and I'm on an academic scholarship. Instead of blowing all the money I have on nonsense, I'd rather use it for a good cause." Dr. Nelson put his pen down and smiled at me.

"We need more people like you in the world." He was shaking his head, but I took that as a good sign.

"Thank you."

"Make sure you visit some of the other kids before you leave." I nodded once, walking out of his office. I walked down the hall to a little girl named Camille's room. I had a feeling she was going to pass soon. I just hoped that she made it through.

Dave

I watched the door close behind Aria, regretting the words that I had let slip out of my mouth. I was positive she knew now, and her response wasn't the one I was looking for. I wasn't expecting her to run out. I don't know what I thought was going to happen, but that wasn't it. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, going over all of my options.

"Mr. Franco?" Someone had knocked on the door. I looked up quickly, hoping it was Aria, but I found Amelia standing there instead. I didn't try to hide my disappointment. I was positive Amelia already knew what was going on as well. She knew before Aria did.

"Hey, Amelia. Did you need something?"

"I need to talk to you." She seemed determined about whatever it was, so asking her to leave was out of the question.

"What's up? Is this about your paper?" She sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk.

"No. It's about Aria." Yeah. She definitely knew.

"Oh. She was just here. She left for the hospital."

"That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it." I realized that I had already gotten myself in a hole that was going to be hard to get out of. I could only hope that Amelia would keep whatever she knew to herself.

"What is it?"

"You like Aria." Hearing the words out loud were different than thinking about them. In my head, I knew it was wrong. I knew all of the things that could happen if anyone were to find out. Hearing Amelia say that I liked her didn't feel wrong. I knew that it was, but it didn't feel that way.

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell her?"

"I tried." Amelia's eyes widened, and then she smirked.

"And what did she say?"

"She ran." Her smirk instantly turned into a frown, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"I'm going to kill her." She started mumbling to herself like a mad woman. I always had an inkling that Amelia wasn't all there, but she was extremely smart and hadn't done anything to get herself in trouble.

"Well, she's not answering her phone, but you know where she is. I think you should try to talk to her." I knew she wasn't kidding either, but I wasn't going to tell Aria that I had feelings for her in the middle of a hospital, especially not the school's hospital. I would be asking to get fired if I did that.

"I don't think she'll listen to me."

"You have to make her listen." This was a bad idea, but I knew I was going to do it anyway. I cared about Aria too much not to.

"Alright." Amelia grinned triumphantly and skipped out of my office. I grabbed my keys and followed her out.

"Amelia!" She stopped her prancing and turned around, a smile on her face.

"Don't worry, Mr. Franco, my lips are sealed." I prayed to God that she kept to her word and drove to the hospital. I went straight to Nelson's office, hoping he was in there and could tell me where Aria was.

"Hey Dave. Didn't expect to see you here."

"I need to talk to Aria about something." He eyed me curiously, and for a second, I thought I had been caught.

"She told me that you were letting her redo her paper. Well, you just missed her." And I had no clue where she planned on going after being here either.

"Alright. I'll talk to her tomorrow then. Thank you." I turned to leave, but he stopped me.

"Where did you find her?" I didn't understand the question. Obviously he knew that she was in my class.

"I'm not quite sure I follow what you're saying."

"She volunteered to pay for one the patients' hospital bills. His parents can't afford for him to stay here, and she offered to pay for everything." My heart swelled, and I could feel a smile spreading across my face. She really was something special.

"She's an angel, Dave. Hold onto her." I didn't miss the double meaning in his words, and I was a little frightened that he would say something to the people at the school.

"I don't-" I quickly tried to deny whatever he was thinking, but he held his hand up and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." I nodded once and thanked him again, going back down to the parking lot. By the grace of God, I spotted Aria walking to her car with her phone pressed against her ear.

"Aria!" She turned, her eyes landing on me. She looked confused, and I didn't know how I was supposed to tell her what was going on. I walked over to where she was standing and shoved my hands in my pockets, waiting for her conversation to be over.

"Thank you, daddy. I'll keep you posted." She hung up and slipped the phone into her purse before looking up at me with wide eyes, "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I needed to talk to you about something." Her eyes widened further, and I knew she knew why I was here.

"Dave, this isn't a good idea." I should have known she would say that. Aria had a good head on her shoulders. She was extremely intelligent.

"Why?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. I just wanted to know if she was saying no because she didn't like me or if she was saying no because she did and she knew this was wrong.

"You know why." She didn't want to say it.

"Can you just answer something for me?" She nodded once, gnawing on her bottom lip.

"Do you feel the same?" She was silent, and that was the only answer I needed. I wasn't happy that she said no, but I wasn't going to disrespect her wishes.

"Yes, but you know we can't."

"I know." She nodded, and we both stood in silence, me looking at her, and her looking at me.

"I should, uhm...I should get home. I have a lot of homework to do." I nodded and let her get into her car, but stopped her before she could close the door.

"Aria, wait." She looked up at me, her eyes wide and innocent. I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket. The same piece of paper I had been carrying around since the day I met her. The same piece of paper that had been burning a hole in my pocket for weeks.

"Here's my number, just in case you need anything you can reach me directly instead of calling the school." She was hesitant, but she took the slip of paper from my hand.

"Thank you." And then she drove off.