Sunshine (Student/Teacher Romance) 18+

32

Ari

I stare hard at the blank page spread in front of me, my head on my chin and a thick chunk of my curly bang hanging in front of my face.

My hair already smells like fresh salted fries and I've only been on shift for about an hour.

It's almost like the scent doesn't really get a chance to get off of me, but then again maybe if I wasn't up all night making sure Diana didn't asphyxiate, I could have washed my hair or just took a decent shower.

Or a proper nap that didn't take place in the nurses office.

My eyes are drawn out the window as Maya catches my attention, skating across the pavement with a sassy sway in her hips. Her long legs glide gracefully and easily on beat to the music, most likely intentionally, and when she passes Sassy, they smack palms.

Maya used to take her lunch break when I did. We used to sit here in the backroom, sharing candy and fries and barely getting homework done because we were too busy laughing at videos on our phones. Now she takes her break with Sassy, and it's hard not to wonder if their bond is better than ours ever was. Tighter. Closer.

They leave and bring back food from somewhere that's far enough to waste half of their break, but seems worth it by the looks of their meals.

Guess she's too good to share fries with me anymore. Or maybe she's just tired of eating here.

I know I am.

I blow out a breath and watch my loose spiral strands flutter in front of my eyes before resting on my nose again.

My eyes shut when Abel's voice begins in my head. "For tonight's prompt, I want you to write a letter to someone. Your mom, your grandpa, sister, bestie," he paused like he was expecting the laughter that ensued. And of course it did. The man could get a cat to giggle. "doctor, turtle—whoever—just make it a page, and make it a good one. Emphasis on good, please."

"Okay," I say to myself, lacing my fingers and bending them until the knuckles pop. "Dearest Mr. C," I say sarcastically. My pen moves quickly, line after line.

I let it all flow.

Every word I never said, plus some I did.

Some I shouldn't.

Some I could never speak unless it were just he and I and no one else.

I wrote and I wrote and I wrote until my hand cramped up and until my break was just about over.

To the very last minute.

When Maya and Sassy came in with their skates hanging around their necks and inside-chuckles living up the room, I scrambled with my things, shoving them away quickly to get back to work.

It irked me, watching them grow closer every shift.

I was jealous. Not only because that was my friend, but because Maya could do it so easily.

Make friends just by being herself. By being effortlessly interesting and beautiful and funny. People gravitated toward Maya, and seemed like they did the opposite with me.

Like I was wearing my own personal brand of repellant.

"You backed up in there Stace?" Snappy calls out behind me as I make five cherry cokes by the machine.

She mutters a response back to her, but I pay it no mind. We were backed up in general.

Stacey was always a beast with the orders, so it wasn't her fault. I knew that.