I Fell For You At The Cemetery

07.

07

Sarah shifted in her seat as she glanced at her watch. It was five-twenty and there was still no sign of Joey. Kevin who was sitting on the opposite sofa, facing her, impatiently sighed and started to tap his foot. Sarah too, was a bit annoyed at Joey for being late. And he hadn't been present at school today either.

She decided to ignore the little gut feeling which hinted that something may have happened to Joey. Shaking those thoughts away, she tried to focus on the book in her hands. What rubbish was she thinking of, she scolded herself silently.

"How long are we gonna wait?"

She jumped a little at Kevin's sudden question and looked up from the words that she couldn't seem to understand at the moment. She regarded his question for a while before asking him. "Try calling him. Do you have his number?"

He shook his head and this time, it was Sarah's turn to sigh irritatedly. She looked at the time again and found that it was five-thirty. She considered starting but then, she'd have to teach the same thing to Joey as well. After waiting for another fifteen minutes, she said curtly, "Class dismissed."

Kevin blinked at her for a few seconds before he hastily picked up his bag and was out of the house without another word. It was almost as if he was afraid that Sarah would change her mind if he stayed too long. She stood up, smiling a little at her student's haste. If it had been her in Kevin's situation, she would have done the same thing. Wait, scratch that. She wouldn't even have come to tuition in the first place.

She turned the heater higher and sat down on the sofa, folding her legs beneath her. Even as her eyes were glued to the moving television screen, in her mind, she was still thinking about all the possibilities as to why Joey hadn't shown up.

Should she be worried? After all, he was her student and it was only right for teachers to inquire after the welfare of their students...

----

The next morning when there was still no sign of him, Sarah made up her mind to ask the one person who would probably know the reason for his absence: Collin. After class ended, she told him to stay behind. Even as the class emptied and Collin stood in front of her desk, Sarah wondered if what she was about to ask him would sound weird.

She fumbled with her papers as she took a deep breath and put on her best professional expression. "Joey Harding's been absent for two days," she started, her voice firm and strictly teacher-like. "Do you know what's the matter with him?"

Collin shrugged. "I did try calling him but he hasn't answered."

Sarah straightened up in her seat almost instantly, weary and Collin noticed. "Oh, don't worry, Ma'am," he assured her smiling. "He sometimes does that. You know, disappear on us for a few days."

She frowned. "Disappear?"

"Yeah, he won't answer our calls or show his face at school but he turns up after a few days," he said, shrugging again like it was no big deal. Sarah looked down at her papers, wondering if she should take Collin's word for it and stop worrying about him. If his best friend was unconcerned, then why should she be?

"He's been going through some hard times you see," Collin continued. "And I think that sometimes he just needs his space, you know?"

She knew that Collin was only trying to reassure her but what he had said, raised more questions. What were these hard times that he was going through? She wanted to ask Collin to explain but felt like there was a personal reason behind it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to discuss that with Collin.

She nodded at him. "Thank you for telling me that. You can go on to your next class."

"Right," he smiled and saluted as he made his way out.

At five-ten that evening, Sarah had a feeling that Joey wouldn't come and twenty minutes later, she was proved right. Kevin was frowning at his hands, probably wondering what he'd done to deserve such a fate and Sarah sighed. "You can go. I don't see any reason for you to stay longer."

Sarah faced the same departure from Kevin like yesterday. But instead of not worrying about it like Collin or Kevin, she was worried. What if something bad had happened to him this time while everyone simply assumed that he was okay? Was he okay?

She realized that she needed to find out the answer for herself because she was becoming more and more restless by the minute. She sat down and tried recalling Joey's number on the register. All of her students' contact numbers were noted down along with their addresses.

Mammy had handed her the register before her first class and Sarah had lazily, skipped through it all, not interested.

When she grabbed her coat and walked outside into the cold weather, she hoped that she remembered Joey's address right.

----

Standing outside the house, his house presumedly, Sarah looked around her. There was a woman passing her with a dog on her leash who barked at the white blanket on the ground. Yeah, I hate it too, she agreed with the dog silently.

The houses here were neat and almost all of them looked the same. Double storied with well kept yards in front of the houses. Although, people had moved whatever plants they could, inside the house, which left some of them to be covered with snow. Pale yellow picket fences separated the houses from each other and marked their territory. She stepped over the fence and walked towards the front door, taking deep breaths.

Her heart was beating a bit too fast and she pondered on the possibilities. Was it because of what Joey had said to her more than two days ago? It was quite clear that he did not see her as a teacher but it also wasn't clear as to what he actually saw her as. And what about me, Sarah asked herself. What did she see him as?

She paused before the door and partially hoped that it wasn't Joey's address. She rang the doorbell and stepped back a bit. When nobody answered, she rang it again and waited with her hands buried in her pockets for warmth. On the third ring, she heard movement inside and stepped back a bit more.

The door was opened and she was greeted by a red-nosed Joey with a tissue in his hand. His dark hair was disheveled more than usual but his eyes widened when he saw Sarah. For a second he couldn't say anything and Sarah was at a loss for words herself. She was relieved that he was alright but after recovering from her relief, she was annoyed, no angry, about the fact that he had her worried. She wasn't sure who to be more mad at: herself or Joey?

When Joey did open his mouth, a cough seized him and he covered his mouth with his hands, as he continued to cough.

Sarah's anger faded away for a moment. Joey was clearly very sick.

"May I come in?"

He looked at her, coughing and then nodded as he couldn't speak through his coughs. Sarah stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Chapter 07 to be continued...

****

Author's Note: Hi, humans! :D I hope you're enjoying the story so far and if you are, please do leave a comment below because I love hearing from you guys. Also, don't forget to vote if you liked the chapter. ;) Any kind of support is greatly appreciated.

Btw, what do you think about Joey and Sarah? Do you think that they're progressing too slow or too fast? Let me know below, okay? ^_^ Thank you all so much and please don't forget to vote and comment.

****