The Silver Lining

Just a normal day

~art by Ethereal on Pinterest
https://pin.it/7IHdPuC

Trigger warnings: Swearing, cult stuff, reference to scars

TOMMY'S POV

With that, I turn and head off to school. I feel like I'm gonna throw up. I try to control my anxiety as I walk up. I give a smile to the school resource officer and he gives me a strange look before giving me a wave over to him. Okay, there's no way I'm in trouble. I haven't had the chance to do anything yet so it wouldn't make sense for me to be in trouble. It's my face, isn't it? Okay what kind of reaction is this, scared of me or for me? Well, we're about to see!

"Hey, are you alright kiddo?" Ah, I guess it's the second one.

"Ah, no I'm fine, really!" I give a nervous smile while trying to wrap this up as soon as possible before it gives me a bad rep. He didn't seem too convinced by my answer so I keep talking, "All these are from a while ago, I'm doing much better now." I grab my arm absent-mindedly as he worriedly dismisses me. I missed orientation so I guess I've got to just find them as quick as possible.

I look down at the schedule that I got not too long ago and check the map for its location. "Alright, doesn't look to be too far away. I'll take a picture of the map for later, just in case." I take the picture and then I feel someone tap my shoulder, causing me to jump and turn around.

"Woah! Sorry! Didn't mean to startle ya... U-umm, I was just wondering if you needed help finding your class." The kid who wanted my attention seemed to be just as nervous as I am. I ended up laughing a bit and accepting his offer.

"I'm headed to room 309 for first period, I'm new here and missed orientation so that just makes things even more fun," I speak with my hands to add a bit more pizazz to my sarcasm. Which totally works because he ends up laughing with me.

"Oh I totally get that, I missed orientation my freshman here and the first week was absolutely awful trying to get around. My name's Allen, you?"

I respond with a smile, "Name's Timothy." I stick out my hand for him to shake, mentally cringing at my last second name change. Hey, I mean it's better than Tomathy! "Where are we headed again?"

"Coach Roach's class, or at least that's what they all call her. Not sure if it's her actual name though." I just looked at him for a second.

"Coach Roach is a she? Damn, last name was not expected. I bet she must be really nice though." I stare ahead of me as we keep walking.

"Nah man, she's a total bitch! So pissed about her name that she barely does her job right. And she's really vulgar. You're walking into hell, Timothy." Ok, Wil advice #1: don't trust anyone. Best course of action here? Confirm all these 'facts' with the teacher before relying on any of them. Don't fuck up Tommy.

"All right, I won't argue. Doesn't mean that I'll just blindly believe whatever you tell me though, I'll need to see it for myself." Good, standing your ground. After a few minutes of skepticism and looks in the hallway we made it to her class room. Immediately I look up at the name tag and sure enough, the letters to make the word 'roach' were taped up there and written in pencil. Since I'm tall, I reach up to where it was and take the paper down to reveal the name 'Mrs Rocht,' "Mrs. Raw-sht"

"Roach." He says with some odd smile on his face and I turn my head to him.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's pronounced Rawcht. There's a 't' in there, dickhead." He doesn't seem to be too fond of the answer I gave him. Before he can say anything else I sign and say "Why don't we just ask her? I'm pretty sure she knows how to pronounce her name better than you do."