The Teacher

Chapter Three: That Look

The rest of the week went by fine. I have not made any good friends but I have talked to a few people. All of my teachers are amazing. I think this year will be pretty damn easy. Mr. Alvarez has sat with me every day this week. He is a really nice guy. If he was not my teacher then I would definitely make a move. Who am I kidding? He would never go out with someone like me. He hasn't talked of a wife or kids though. So who truly knows? I am in my last class before lunch when I get called out of class by Mr. Alvarez. He moves swiftly to whisper something in my teacher's ear while he waits for me to pack up my things. I wonder why he is calling me out of class though. 

When we step out of the classroom he turns to me and he looks very upset. "What is it, sir?" He sighs. "I don't want to be the one to tell you this but..." "But what? What happened?" He looks up at me. "Your step mother, Rachel, was found dead in her bed this morning. One of her coworkers had not heard from her in awhile and so she went to go check on Rachel and that is when she found her. The cops are at the front gate waiting for you." He continues talking but I do not hear him. Rachel is dead? Why?  What happened? Did I do something? Everybody leaves one way or another because of me. But I did not expect this to happen. She had seemed more down than usual lately but I thought she was just tired from working so much. Tears are streaming down my face now. It is getting harder and harder to breathe. "Zeke, breathe. Look at me. It's okay. Just breathe." After a few minutes I get my breathing under control and I am able to stand up. I wipe the remaining tears off of my face and look over at Mr. Alvarez. "Are you okay, Zeke?" I nod and grab my bag off of the ground. "Do you need a minute or are you ready?" "I'm fine." He nods. I can tell he feels sorry for me. I have seen the same look after my mom died and after my dad left. I have grown to hate that look. 

He walks me to the front gate where there are two cops there. One is a woman and the other is a man. They have the same look Mr. Alvarez has. I hate it. "Zeke? Do you mind coming with us buddy?" The male cop says. I nod but I do not say anything. The female cop leads me to the back seat of the cop car while the male cop and Mr. Alvarez talk about something. I watch Mr. Alvarez start walking back inside as the male cop is getting in the driver's seat. "We are going to bring you to the station to ask you a few questions and things like that. Is that okay?" I nod to answer him. I wish this day would end. No. I wish this day had never begun. I hate today. I hate the stupid looks everyone has been giving me more. 

It has been a few days since that day After the police asked me a few questions they tried figuring out where I was going to live. They called someone they knew to see if they could take me in. Her name is Mrs. Honey. She is an older woman who lives by herself. She often takes in kids to foster them when something like this happens. She gave me my own room and I have gotten all of my belongings from my old house. I have not been back to school yet. Mr. Alvarez has been bringing me all of my work from my classes so I can stay caught up. I haven't touched a single paper though. All of it is just in a pile in the corner of my room. I barely leave my room. Mrs. Honey is a very sweet person and I know she tries to hide it but she gives me the same look as every one else. She gives me my space though and cooks for me as well. I hardly eat any of it though. I plan on trying to go back to school tomorrow. I am nervous. I am sure everyone has heard about what has happened and so everyone is going to be giving me that look. I wish all of this will stop. I want things to go back to normal. 

I wake up after a long nap and hear someone, a man, talking in the kitchen with Mrs. Honey. I walk into the kitchen and see Mr. Alvarez standing there. He is wearing a white shirt and blue jeans which fit him in all of the right places. I usually only see him wearing longer sleeves so this is the first time I am seeing just how tan he is. He looks over at me and smiles a little. It is almost like a smirk. His hair has that just got out of bed look to it and it looks so damn hot. "Ahem. Zeke are you going to answer Mr. Alvarez's question?" I look at her then back at him. "Sorry, what was your question?" He chuckles a little. "What do you think about staying with me for a while? They need Mrs. Honey to take in more kids and she is scared she will not have enough space with you here also." Wait, what? "You mean live with you? At your house? For how long?" He smiles a little at me. "Yes, I mean with me and at my house. You can stay as long as you need after you are eighteen. Is that alright?" I nod my head because I do not know how to answer. "Okay. Good. Go start packing up your belongings please." I still cannot believe this is happening. I am going to live with Mr. Alvarez. What the hell is going on with my life right now? I walk back towards my room and realize I haven't really unpacked any of my things. I just have some clothes out to wear and that is it. Mrs. Honey said I could use the dresser here but I never did. "Do you need any help?" I nearly jump out of my skin. He scared me. I turn to see Mr. Alvarez standing in the doorway. I can tell he is trying not to laugh at how badly he scared me. "You scared the hell out of me." Now he starts laughing. "I know. Mrs. Honey said we can take the dresser if we need it which we do. So why don't you help me get this to my truck real quick and then we can come back and get the rest of your stuff?" I nod in agreement.