~My Teacher Hits Me~ (Book 1) [Rewritten]

Chapter 5: The Nightmare has only just begun

Rylan finds it difficult to focus in her classes. She constantly draws her eyes up to stare at the hands on the clock and watch the seconds tick by. Rather than time moving slowly, it seems to be moving at hyper speed and each period spins into the next. Rylan's anxiety deepens as time brings her closer and closer to facing Mr. Quinn and then Blake not long after.

He knows who she is now. Mr. Quinn knows her name. Rylan is no longer an invisible student getting by below his radar. That thought terrifies her more than anything. Will Mr. Quinn keep a closer eye on her now? Will he leave her alone and pretend like none of it happened? Rylan hopes for the latter. Her neck aches reminding her what happened was real. The scene from earlier replays in her head: How deeply his fingers had grasped her arm and how tightly his grip had dug into the skin on her neck. She doesn't want to go through that again. Rylan tries to convince herself Mr. Quinn simply got caught up in the moment, but she can't forget his eyes. He knew he was hurting her. His bite could be just as bad as his bark. Rylan shudders and buries the thought.

The bell rings, signalling the end of second period and students flood the halls. Rylan's feet feel heavy like lead as she follows the masses into the hall. No matter how hard she pushes her feet out ahead of her, they move at a pace no faster than a turtle. Other students shove past her, chattering noisily and giggling gleefully. Rylan feels only dread.

Mr. Quinn sits at his desk, his nose in the morning newspaper when Rylan reaches the door. She scurries past him to her seat next to Dani.

"You're very pale, Rylan." Dani notes.

Rylan gives her a terrified smile. "I'm trying not to run out of this room screaming."

"You'll get through this. Forty-five minutes. That's all."

Yeah. Forty-five minutes trapped in a room with a teacher who had gotten physical with her only a few hours before and a bunch of students who are as intimidated as she is by him. Rylan doesn't have a choice, though. She entered the room. She will have to see it through. However, when the bell rings, the newspaper falls from Mr. Quinn's face, and his eyes lock directly onto her, Rylan wants to materialize into her chair.

"Ms. Winchester, we meet again." The teacher purses his lips, almost disgusted.

Some students peek at Rylan, while others don't want to make the attempt to focus anywhere other than on Mr. Quinn. Rylan's blood boils at his snarky remark.

Mr. Quinn's eyes shift left. "And Ms. Turner as well."

"The events this morning have proved you to be quite the troublemaker. Am I to expect you are going to cause problems in my classroom too?" He chides. Every gaze locks on Rylan's face.

"No, sir."

"I trust you've learned something valuable?"

Rylan hates him. As if embarrassing her in front of a majority of the students wasn't enough, Mr. Quinn has decided to do the same in his classroom. He quirks an eyebrow when Rylan's silence extends.

"I have." She grudgingly admits. Rylan doesn't know much about discipline, but she is sure you are not allowed to humiliate a student like this, especially not on private matters such as these.

"He's supposed to be teaching the class, not talking down to his students." Dani mutters.

"Do you have something to share with the rest of the class, Ms. Turner?"

Dani glares at him and clears her throat. "Yes, actually. I think you owe Rylan an apology. You grabbed her neck and forced her to apologize to that asshole. Rylan didn't do anything wrong."

Mr. Quinn appears surprised, but his perfectly chiseled jaw grinds his teeth together. "Are you questioning my authority, Ms. Turner?"

"Just your discipline methods." Dani says. "Blake grabbed my shirt. Rylan did what anyone would have done."

"So we've returned to the argument where violence solves everything, is that it?"

"No, but what was I supposed to do? I wasn't going to stand there and watch him hit her!" Rylan defends herself.

Mr. Quinn chuckles without humor. The sound makes Rylan want to tear her ears off and stuff them down his throat. How dare he laugh! He walks down the aisle and stops next to Rylan, leaning in close.

"Do you really think I care--that anyone in this room cares?" Mr. Quinn gestures widely around the room, then leans in so only Rylan and Dani can hear him. "You think I hurt you? I don't give a shit what you two think. It can get a lot worse than humiliation in front of a bunch of students. Remember that."

"I can go straight to the Principal and tell him everything." Dani hisses.

Mr. Quinn looks at her with a hard gaze. After a moment, he stands up. "I handled the situation the way I saw fit to handle it. So, Ms. Turner, I will not apologize. And I believe you've just earned yourself and Ms. Winchester a detention with me after school." He smiles and his eyes glimmer with that same dangerous excitement Rylan had seen during the fight.

"Don't be late." Then he finally begins the lesson.

Dani glances apologetically at Rylan, then crosses her arms and glares at her desk for the remainder of the period.

Lunch is quiet. Rylan and Dani barely talk about the incident and the obvious threat in Mr. Quinn's words although they're both thinking about it. Tuck and Cas exchange apprehensive glances, afraid Rylan and Dani will blow up the second they tried to lighten the mood.

"Are you two alright? We heard about what happened." Tuck asks.

"I've had better days." Dani replies.

Rylan chews her sandwich slowly so she doesn't have to talk. When Dani stands to throw her trash away a few minutes later, Tuck follows. As Rylan climbs to her feet, she feels a hand twist into hers. It is warm and comforting, yet she can't help staring at the union in surprise. She peers up into Cas's face. He's barely said a word to her and now he's holding her hand.

"I'm here for you, Rylan. If you need anything, I'm here." Cas promises, holding her gaze for a short moment before squeezing her hand tightly and letting their hands slip apart.

It's only the second time Rylan has heard Cas talk and his sincerity is strangely reassuring. It doesn't wash away the troubles she has to face, but it makes her feel a bit more safe. His sweetness shocks her. Quiet and reserved, she hadn't pegged him for the outwardly caring type.

Rylan is too busy trying to pick apart Cas's personality to realize she has missed most of the lecture in Physical Science and is now heading to the impending doom that is Spanish. At the door Rylan's eyes meet Blake's wild ones. She takes her seat.

"You and me are going to have a talk after school, cupcake."

"Can't. I have detention to serve." Rylan returns. "No thanks to you."

"Not my fault you decided to jump my bones." Blake chuckles at his little joke.

"Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself speak?" Rylan mutters, annoyed and growing tired of his games and inappropriate comments.

"First blondie and now you. You really don't want to piss me off, cupcake."

"Or what? You can't see past your giant ego. You're just a bunch of empty threats."

Blake scoffs. "I don't make empty threats, Rylan. I want what I want. When we have that talk after detention, you won't be so quick to throw me to the side. You think that teacher is scary? Wait till you see how scary I can get."

Rylan has no doubt he means every word, but she can't worry about him and Mr. Quinn. Her anxiety is bad as it is without the added stress from his "meeting" after detention. She'd deal with that once she and Dani made it through detention with a psychotic teacher. One hour. That's all they needed to endure.

If only it was that simple.