Tomorrow's Money

For some reason, I couldn't get Mr. Way off my mind. Maybe it was the way his eyes glimmered when you got to talking about art, or the way he smelled like coffee, cigarettes, and some sort of cologne, or the way he brushed his hair out of his eyes, or maybe I was just going insane, thinking about my teacher. Kind of. Reminding myself he was a student teacher helped some, until I realized that coming up with excuses as to why it's okay to think about your student teacher was weird in itself. I wasn't even completely sure why I wanted to think about him. No way did I have a crush on him, that would be crazy! Crushing on your student teacher.. He was still a teacher. It was wrong. But the fact that he had the word "student" in front of "teacher" made it better? No. Who was I kidding?

I pushed the strange thoughts out of my frazzled and confused mind long enough to get out of going to another social event with my mom. I suppose there was a dinner party at the mayor's house that we were invited to. She implored I go, but I used my homework as an excuse. Academics were supposed to come first, especially if I got my father involved.

My father was the kind of man that you would be intimidated by. He was tall, well dressed, and probably looked like he could ruin you with a few simple words. But my dad was kind, attentive when he could be, and his heart was definitely in the right place. Even when my mom protested, he always stuck up for me when I didn't want to go to a social event. He told her that academics came first no matter what, and though she always hated the excuse, she had to agree. Forcing me to go to a party without having my homework done was probably not the best parental decision, and my dad let her know it.

Once my parents left for their party, I got my sketch pad out and continued my work. I erased the head I'd already done, and was somewhat happy with. I'd told Mr. Way I'd change it, but I didn't know why. I liked it the way it was, but maybe he knew what he was talking about. I started drawing the head bigger, adding an excessive amount of scales, teeth, and horns. I wanted this to be dramatic and over done. By the time I was finished, I was actually really proud of my work! I thought it looked a thousand times better than it had before. He was right. It did look more like a cartoon instead of a failed attempt at realism. I thought it would be a good idea to listen to him more often. He was smart, that much was obvious. I got to thinking about what kind of things he could draw, how his artwork might look. I was suddenly interested in looking through the his portfolio. I knew he had one, every artist did. But then I realized I was thinking about him again and groaned in frustration. "Why?! I thought, wanting it to go away. Thinking about him had to stop. It was getting weird.

I decided to call Marley. Maybe hanging out with her would make me feel a little more normal. "Hello?" She answered.

"Hey Marley. What are you doing tonight?" I asked, hoping she wasn't busy.

"Not a whole lot. Just hanging out at Gerard's with Mikey." She said, as if it were totally normal. I thought it was weird that she was hanging out at her student teacher's house. But then I remembered that it was probably really normal for her as she'd probably known him as long as she'd known Mikey.

"Oh. I wanted to know if you wanted to come hang out. If you're busy it's fine, we can do it some other time." I didn't want to sound like I was desperate, though maybe I was.

"Sorry, Mikey told Gerard we'd hang out tonight. Maybe this weekend?" She suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good." I agreed, though I was slightly disappointed.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." She hung up, probably not realizing how alone I suddenly felt. I shrugged it off and went upstairs to take a bath. It was the only thing I could think to do that would occupy my time.

I filled up the bath with steamy, hot water and out in my favorite smelling bubble bath. I stripped down and put my hair in a bun, not really wanting to get it wet. I submerged myself in the water, basking in the warm glory of my tub. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander wherever it wanted. Of course it wandered in the directed of a black-haired man, but was quickly cut short by the sound of rustling in my house. I quickly sat up and listened, hoping I was only paranoid and had actually heard nothing.

The rustling came again along with muffled whispers. I slowly got out of the tub and wrapped myself in a towel. I turned off the bathroom light so no one would know I was there. I opened the closet door, getting in and shutting it quietly behind me. I pressed my ear to the door, hoping to hear a name or what they were looking for. I couldn't make out a word they said, but assumed they were going for cash or jewelry like anyone else would.

I heard two men coming upstairs, whispering about diamonds and loose cash laying around. Ha! As if my parents were dumb enough to leave things like that sitting around! I waited a long time before I heard them again. All I could make out was one man saying "I can't believe there's nothing here! We're coming back alright! I got a bad feeling about being here. Let's go!" And that was it. I heard them shut a door behind them a few moments later.

I got our of the closet and got dressed in my room, immediately calling my parents. My dad answered his phone, thankfully. "Hello?" he answered.

"Dad, two men were just in the house. They tried to rob us." I said, my hands shaking and voice cracking. I was oddly shaken up over this.

"Did they take anything?" He asked, strangely calm about it.

"I don't think so. But I heard them say they'd be back." I explained, trying to express the urgency.

"Alright. I'll handle it. You just get to bed, you have school." He said, cooly.

"That's it? You're nt going to have me call the police?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh god no. your mother would kill me if someone found out the police had to come to our house!Could you imagine what people would say?" I couldn't believe him. He was worried about what people would say if the cops had to come.

"Whatever dad. Night." I hung up on him, frustrated as hell. I went to bed, cursing him out for being so nonchalant. What if they wanted to hurt me or something? Didn't that matter? I was shaken up about this. I was afraid. And he didn't care.

I wen to school the next day, half angry half frightened. I avoided talking too much during my classes, simply because I wasn't in the mood to talk. I was relieved as hell when it came time for art class. I knew I could let out all of my frustration on a sketch pad.

I sat in my seat, sketch pad out, giving my dragon some final details, when Ms. Kurt came to the front of the room. "Good afternoon everyone!" She said, cherry as ever. "Now, Mr. Way and I are going to come around to each of you and critique your work. Once we're finished you can put your sketch away and start a new one, but this time, make it a line drawing and be prepared to paint it tomorrow in class!" As she finished her speech, she and Mr. Way walked around the room, giving their input on what everyone drew. Eventually, Mr. Way came over to me.

"Hi Lily." He half smiled.

"Hey." I said, showing him my sketch. He leaned around me a little to take a look and that familiar mix of smells came over me once more. I was oddly comforted, and felt at peace for the first time that day. Maybe it was just because I finally realized that I was at school and nothing bad was going to happen.

"You took my suggestions." He said, seemingly surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't think it was going to help much at first, but then I started it and it just got better from there. I think that was a great suggestion." I admitted, happy to have listened to him.

"I'm glad it worked out for you." He smiled. "Honestly, I want to see what else you can do with cartoon concepts, if that's a style you like to draw in anyway."

"Yeah, I just never know how to make things look the way I want." I shrugged, still not too thrilled or enthused about my day so far.

"Well, for your painting project, feel free to come ask me anything if you need to. I'd be happy to help." He offered. I thought that was really nice of him. He really did care about the people he was teaching.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." I smiled for the first time that day, but for some reason felt ready to break down. What the hell?

"Are you okay?" He asked, lowering his voice so no one would hear.

"I thought I was." I laughed a little, though tears started running down my cheeks. I wasn't sure what was going on or why I was getting so upset.

"Do you need a minute alone?" He asked, obviously concerned.

"No, I'm fine." I said, wiping my face. "I guess I just had a hard night last night and it;s getting to me. " I briefly explained.

"Come out into the hallway with me, okay?" He said, backing up so I could get out of my chair. I looked around but no one seemed to notice the scene in front of them, thank goodness. I didn't need questions.

Mr. Way went over to Ms. Kurt and quietly explained what was going on, though I couldn't hear exactly what he told her. She nodded, also concerned, and he turned to follow me in the hall. "What's going on?" He asked, still quieting his voice so no one overheard.

"Just last night. I don't know why I just now got upset over it. I'm fine, really." I tried to explain. I didn't want him feeling bad for me or anything. It wasn't a big deal, right?

"You can tell me what happened. I won't mention it to anyone." He said. He waited a moment for me to answer but I didn't. I wanted to get out of this situation. "Hey, tell me." He said, putting his hands on my shoulders which made me cry a little more. The sympathy was making it worse, like when you're upset about something and someone asks you what is wrong and you just get more upset, even though it doesn't make sense? This was that situation.

"Just some idiots busted into my house last night while I was there alone. They didn't take anything, but they mentioned they'd be back. I called my dad after they left and he wouldn't let me call the police because my mom would freak out of anyone found out cops had to come to our house." I explained, feeling stupid for being upset over it.

"Wait, you weren't allowed to call the cops?" He asked in disbelief. "That's insane. They could have killed you." He said, realizing how terrible this all sounded.

"Yes! Exactly! Thank you!" I laughed a bit out of anger, though tears still streamed.

"Lily, you aren't upset there was a break in. Not really. You're upset that your dad didn't care enough about you to do something about it. You realize that, right? You have a valid reason to be upset." He said, rubbing his thumbs comfortingly on my shoulders.

"I didn't even think of it like that." I said, realizing he was right. I wasn't all that upset that someone broke in. I was upset about my life being in danger and no one caring. The realization made me cry again, making me feel more stupid. "But you're right." I whispered.

Mr. Way pulled me in, hugging me. At first, I didn't know what to think. What if someone saw? But suddenly, I didn't care. Someone finally gave a shit about me and hugging him back would have made me feel better. So I did. I hugged him, loosely, feeling more comfort from him than I'd ever felt from my parents. "I'm sorry this happened, okay? If you ever need to talk, let me know." He whispered, making my heart flutter a little.

"Thank you so much." I said, pulling back, smiling.

"Any time. I mean it. Now go clean yourself up and come back to class, okay? Take your time." He smiled once more and went back into the class room.

My cheeks started to burn with a blush as I made my way to the bathroom. Oh god.. He was so warm and comforting. That was surely not something I would forget..