Veronica (teacher x student)

4

I spent the whole night thinking about the ice cream "date" with Liam. I could hardly sleep. I never really thought that hard about my sexuality. Maybe Liam was right, I like girls. Every time I think that I push it away. I mean I can't, right? I had a few boyfriends in middle school, freshman, and sophomore year, but I haven't had one in almost two years. I mean, bisexuality is a thing. Maybe I am bisexual but I would never tell anyone that.

I walked into my study period that's in the library and sat down. I didn't sit with anyone because there were only a few kids in that class and none of them I knew very well. I begin scrolling through my phone. A few minutes into class, Ms. Wright walks in and places a paper on the copier. She notices me and walks over. She pulls out the chair next to me and sits.

"Pull out your English work," She demands. Her demeanor has changed so much from yesterday, it scared me even. I unzip my bag and pull out my English folder. Ms. Wright takes the folder from me and pulls out a worksheet. She pretends to look over it and begins to talk to me,

"So why did you get ice cream with, Liam. I thought you didn't like him," She says.

"I don't know, I thought he has actually been changing for the better but I was very wrong," I say.

"What happened?" She asked leaning closer to me. Her eyes were blue, not light though. They were a deep blue that almost makes it hard to make eye contact with her. I break my stare and look down at my shoes. I haven't even said anything and my eyes are starting to get watery. My throat begins to feel scratchy and close up. What happened between Liam and me yesterday wasn't that horrible, I don't know why I almost started crying, it just felt natural. A little beep sounds that the copier was done printing. Ms. Wright's hand touches my knee.

"Come to my classroom after school," she whispers softly and puts my papers back into my folder, and walks back to the copier. Ms. Wright takes the copied papers and leaves the library almost in a hurry. I quickly wipe my eyes and go back to scrolling through my phone to distract my emotions.

I was quiet throughout the rest of the day and no one seemed to notice. I managed not to speak a word from 4th period. That was until 8th period. I didn't speak to Ms. Wright, but I did speak to Nathan.

"What's an adverb again?" I lean over to his desk asking him.

He sighs before talking, "It's a word that describes a verb. I see why you have to stay after so much. I literally don't know how you're passing this class," He teases me.

"Yeah, I'm not very good at English but I do want that advanced placement credit," I tell him, and we both smile.

The class seems to go by so slowly. I've been dreading after school because I really don't feel like telling Ms. Wright what happened, and I know she definitely won't forget our little appointment. The final bell ultimately rings and I pack my bag as fast as I can. As I throw my bag over my shoulder, none other than Liam walks in.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"I just thought I would walk you out to your car, you know because it is the nice thing to do," he says.

"This really isn't a good time, I need to stay and-" Liam cuts me off before I could finish

"If we're going to be in a relationship, you need to put in the effort too," He has the audacity to say.

"Relationship? You just declared this a relationship without asking me?" I react.

"Liam, do I have you for class?" Ms. Wright interrupts our conversation.

"No," He replies.

"Then I advise you to leave," Ms. Wright walks over and stands next to me. I thought I was kind of tall, but she is almost the same height as Liam.

"Let's go, Veronica," He scoffs, but I stay put. He turns and grabs me by the arm and leads me out of the classroom. Instead of going the way out of the school, he takes me the other way.

"Where are we going?" I ask. He doesn't respond, his grip around my wrist gets tighter. I dig my heels into the floor, "Stop," I say, "Tell me where we are going," I demand to him. His other hand grabs my neck and he slams me backward into the lockers. His hand around my neck gets tighter and he pins my dominant arm to the locker. My breathing becomes shorter. I realize my feet aren't even touching the ground. The pounding begins to sound in my ears. Black spots begin to appear in my vision. My mouth begs for air. I hear faint running and all of a sudden, his grip breaks, and I fall to the ground. I heed my breath as I get onto all fours. I look back and see two male teachers pinning him to the ground. I look forward and see Ms. Wright running, her heels clicking through the hallway. She quickly falls to her knees beside me. She grabs my shoulders and brings me into a hug. Her arms were fastened so tight around me that she held me up without me even working a muscle.

"Breathe," She whispers into my ear, "It's going to be okay, Veronica," She says her hand rubbing my back. I love the way she says my name. My head feels so heavy and I lay my head on her shoulder. I hear Liam yelling something at the teachers. Ms. Wright places one of her hands on the back of my head and begins to gently play with my hair. A headache sweeps over me. It hurts so bad.

I open my eyes and I'm on a stretcher in an ambulance. I must've passed out. There is a paramedic on one side of me typing furiously on a laptop. Ms. Wright is on the other side of me on the phone with someone.

"Yes, I'm in the ambulance with her... Yes, she's fine... No, not yet... Alright, okay. Goodbye," She hangs up the phone. She looks at me and smiles, she almost looks anxious, but she's very good at hiding it. She takes my hand that was resting on the side of the stretcher. She holds it gently, rubbing my knuckles with her thumb. I lightly squeeze my hand to give her reinsurance. She squeezes it back and smiles widely. I don't really remember the rest of the trip to the hospital. I think my consciousness kept going in and out. I was placed in a hospital room for the night and was told not to talk because Liam hurt my vocal cords.

They gave me some painkillers and I had one of the best night's sleep I've ever had. I woke up and a nurse already delivered some flowers to me. I got one from Liam's parents apologizing for his actions and one from my best friend. I guess word spread very fast about Liam choking me in the hallway after school. The nurse walks out of my room and walks back in again with the last set of flowers. This one was the prettiest, it looked like wildflowers. The vase was light pink and the buds of the flowers were small. I found a tag in the maze of stems and it read:

My Veronica,

It pains me I didn't get sooner to you. Get as much rest as you can, you're going to need it for all the English you'll miss. ;)

xx Erica Wright

I held the note tightly in my hand. My Veronica I thought. I'm not just any Veronica, I'm hers. Not only that, but her first name is Erica. Erica Wright.

"Don't put your hopes up too high, but it is very likely you will be released soon, once the doctor evaluates you," the nurse told me. I use the sign-language thank you and she walks out the door. I thought I would never use the slight sign language knowledge I know, but at least I got to use it once.