Illegal Innocence (Student/Teacher Relationship)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Avery?"

I opened my eyes to Chloe's face looking down at me. Startled, I sat up fast. She back away and I immediately felt the pain. I put my hands to my head and groaned.

"God dammit," I mumbled.

"Avery! You're okay!" Chloe said with relief. I opened one eye and looked over at her. "Well, you're alive."

"Yeah," I muttered. "What happened? What time is it? How long have I been in here?"

"The dismissal bell just rang for the end of school. You've been passed out since," she said. "But I grabbed your stuff for you."

"Thanks." I opened both of my eyes, remembering a little of what happened. "Where's Mr. Taylor?"

"Mr. Taylor?" she asked, confused. "What do you mean? He's back in his classroom. Why?"

"He just..." I desperately needed to find a reason on why I wanted to know where he was. "The last thing I remember is him yelling for the nurse. Something about  my..." I put my fingers to my head and touched the bandage that wrapped around my head.

"Yeah, it was a pretty bad fall," she told me. "Everyone was freaking out, except for a few of the jocks in the back. They were laughing, but Mr. Taylor straightened them out as soon as I told him."

"He did?" I asked, surprised.

She nodded. "Yeah."

I laid back down, closing my eyes and laying my arm across my forehead. "Does my mom know?" I sighed. If she did, she must be freaking out.

"I think so. I just got here, actually, so I really don't know anything."

"She's probably having a heart attack," I commented.

"Knowing your mom? Yeah."

We both turned our head to the door as the nurse, Ms. Harrison, walked up to us. "Hello honey. How are you feeling?"

"Not sure yet," I answered her honestly. "Have you called my mom?"

"Yes, we have. She's on her way here now."

"I'm surprised she isn't here already," Chloe said, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, we would've called her sooner, but we had to stop the bleeding first. Then we had to find your file. We called her about a half an hour ago, and I'm assuming she's-"

"Avery!"

We all looked towards the door as my mom rushed into the clinic. She ran to my bedside and stood beside Chloe. "Avery, are you okay?"

"Yeah, mom, I'm fine," I said, giving her a weak smile. "I just tripped, that's all."

She kissed my head lightly and rubbed my cheek with her thumb. "You've always been clumsy, honey. You get it from me."

"Yeah, I know," I said softly, laughing a little.

"Come on honey," she said. "Let's get you home."

"'Kay," I said, letting her help me up. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and hopped to the floor. I tried to ignore the pain in my head as much as possible, but I couldn't help but wince as I stood up straight. My mom and Chloe guided me to the door, but stopped as a figure got in our way.

"Mr. Taylor?" I heard Chloe say. I looked up to see him standing in the doorway.

"I came to see how Ms. Winters was," he explained. He looked at me. "How are you?"

I blinked. The growing desire to tell him this would've never happened if he hadn't picked me to pass out books was becoming irresistible, but I decided it wouldn't be a good idea with my mother standing beside me. Besides, this wasn't his fault. It was my fault for being clumsy. "Okay," I said.

"Good," he said. "I was worried that I'd lost a good student."

My heart skipped a beat. He was worried about me? Pretending not to notice, I said, "I'm not that easy to get rid of."

He smiled at me and laughed in that sweet, deep voice. He held something out to me. "Here. I think you'll be needing this."

I looked at his hand to find he was holding the novel out to me. I took it from him and gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said. "Well, I hope you feel better. I will see you tomorrow." He turned to my mother and nodded, then to Chloe.

"Bye Mr. Taylor," Chloe said. Mr. Taylor turned and walked down the hall, disappearing out of sight.

"He's a nice teacher," my mother commented, continuing to guide me out of the clinic. "He's your English teacher?"

"Yeah," I said. "Both of ours."

Chloe nodded beside me. "Yeah, he's pretty cool."

We walked out of the front doors of the school and out to the parking lot. My mom's car was in the first row, among four other cars.

"Chloe?" I asked.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Take the keys out of my backpack and drive my car home, would you? I can't drive right now."

"Oh yeah, that's right," she said. "You drove."

I nodded. "Mom, is that okay?"

"Of course. We just need to get you home," she replied. I turned back to Chloe and nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes then," she said, beginning to walk in the other direction.

"Bye!" I called after her. My mom unlocked the car and opened the door for me. I climbed inside and shut the door, and watched her walk around to the driver side. She got in and started the car, then drove out of the parking lot and in the direction of the one place I wanted most right now- home.