Life Saver

Closer

Avery's POV
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          On the walk to the bus stop, I got excited because I didn't have work. Which meant that I would be picking up Ava after school. I didn't realize how much I had missed her after only one day of not seeing her. I was thinking of taking her shopping because I had to pick up a few things. Maybe I could let her pick out a new toy to make up for having to leave her at the neighbors. She would be so excited. Soon I arrived at the bus stop, so I hopped on and headed to school. I was excited at the fact I was going to see Sarah today, I was surprised that she had let me call her by her first name. She just radiated confidence, and the lisp she had while speaking was really cute. Though I was nervous that people might see my bruises and get suspicious. I didn't need someone to call the cops and get Ava taken away. If I can just get through a few more months, I'll be able to get Ava and me out of this hellhole into a somewhat nice apartment with what I have saved up. Just a little longer and I won't have to deal with the abuse anymore. I can do it for Ava she deserves a normal childhood. I was brought out of my thoughts as the high school came into view. I pulled my hood over my head and walked as fast as I could into the school hoping to not run into Trevor. It seemed I had made it for once and I headed for my first period of the day precalculus. Math wasn't my favorite subject but I had one of my best grades in it. I was planning not to take math my senior year because my schedule was already full, but my teacher had convinced me to. She said I was one of her best students and that I should reconsider. I walked into my first class and took a seat in the far back. The class was rather boring we were assigned a class project to get to know eachother better. We had to create a slideshow that explained a little about ourselves, I thought it was stupid. I mean what did it have to do with calculus. My other classes passed by really fast and before I knew it the bell rang for fourth period.

      My stomach filled with butterflies as I thought about seeing Miss Paulson. I left my last class and headed in the direction of her room. As I rounded the corner I saw her standing near the door greeting students as they walked in. She was wearing a black pencil skirt with a white blouse, which complemented her figure amazingly. Her hair was curled and in a short bob style that I thought suited her very well. As I got closer I had to force my eyes away so she would not catch me watching her. As I walked through her door her brown honey eyes caught mine. I was instantly lost in her gaze. "Hello Avery," she said as I walked in. "Good morning Miss. Paulson." I greeted as I walked to my desk. I sat down and pulled out my notebook ready for the lesson to begin. I was going to try and pay attention to the lesson today instead of Sarah. If I had any hope of passing this class I had to listen to the lesson. The last bell rang and Sarah pulled her classroom door shut and stood in the front of the classroom. "Okay class, first of all good morning. Let's hop into our first lesson." Twenty minutes into the lesson I was beginning to get really hot. The classroom was boiling and I was in a very thick hoodie. I figured I was sitting in the back no one was going to see anything if I just took off my hoodie for a few minutes. So I did just that and I felt so much better. After Miss Paulson handed out the assignments she was making her way around the classroom to see if anyone had any questions. I was working on the assignment as she walked up to my desk "Are you understand the assignment? Do you need help with anything?" I looked up and met her eyes " No, I understand thank you." She smiled at me and just as she was about to walk away her eyes caught on something. I turned my eyes to where she was looking and noticed that the makeup on my wrist had come off and the dark bruise was showing. I quickly pulled my arm under the desk hiding it. She looked at me with concern in her eyes. I was starting to sweat hoping that she would just shrug it off. She turned back around with one more glance before heading to her desk. I let out a huge breath and pulled my hoodie back over my head trying to hide behind it for the rest of class.

   The bell rang for the end of fourth period. I packed up my bags as fast as I could trying to get out of class before she called my name. Just as I was almost out of the door she said " Avery can you stay after class for a minute?" I stopped right in my tracks cringing" Yeah sure." I squeaked out. I slowly turned around but before I started walking to her desk she asked me to close the door. I slowly made my way towards her desk afraid of what might happen when I got there. "Why don't you grab one of the chairs and sit next to me for a second." She said with a careful voice. I nodded and grabbed a chair from one of the desks. Walking as slow as I could hoping to delay the conversation that was bound to happen. I knew I should have just stayed home or never taken my hoodie off in the first place. I put the chair down next to her desk and slowly sank into it averting my eyes away from her. She slowly turned her chair in my direction. "I noticed something in class today now I am going to give you time to explain before I jump to any conclusions." I slowly brought my gaze up to her eyes. I saw nothing but concern and sincerity in her eyes as she gazed back at me. I stayed silent not wanting to explain anything. Slowly she reached over and grabbed my arm with the softest grasp I had ever felt. My stomach immediately filled with butterflies as her soft skin grazed my hand. She slowly moved the sleeve of my hoodie up revealing the dark bruise on my wrist. It seemed darker from the last time I had seen it which was weird. She slowly moved her fingers over the bruise. I flinched as she went over a very tender part. Her eyes met mine and I brought my gaze to the floor not being able to hold her gaze without crying. "Avery look at me please." My eyes started to tear up as she said that. She put her hand under my chin pulling my gaze to meet hers. I could tell she was incredibly concerned." Avery... Who did this to you?" She wispered. " It's nothing it does not even hurt. I deserved it I should have just.." I stopped speaking then. She slowly covered the bruise with my sleeve again and brought my hand into her grasp. "Avery listen to me when I say this. Nobody deserves this no matter what someone has done. Who did this Avery? Was it Trevor or one of his friends?" She asked me with a pleading look. I slowly shook my head, a tear slowly falling from my eye. " Okay, Then who Avery you can trust me. I just want to help you." She brought her hand up to my face to wipe the fresh tears that had fallen from my eyes. I tried to compose myself and replied. "I can't tell you, Miss. Paulson but this is the first time it has happened and it won't happen again." I lied hoping she believed me. Her thumb was slowly tracing over my nuckles, which comforted me immensely. "Okay, Avery I know this is a hard subject, and I want you to know I'm here if you need me, for anything. If this happens again Avery I want you to tell me." I nodded slowly at her and smiled at her. She got up from her seat and pulled out a slip of paper and a tardy slip from her drawer. She wrote something on both of the slips and handed them to me. I looked down and realized it was her number. "Now I realize it's weird for a teacher to give a student her number but I want you to call me. Anytime you need something or if your introuble okay?" I nodded at her and put the slips in my back pocket. She pulled me into a tight hug which hurt at first because of my back. But I sunk into it loving the feeling of her body against mine. I had not felt this safe with someone since my mom passed. I stuck my head further into her neck trying to envelop myself in her smell. After a few seconds, I reluctantly pulled away. Our faces were rather close and I could not seem to move my eyes from her soft-looking lips. She cleared her throat, which brought me out of my trance. I backed away because I knew if I stayed that close I might kiss her. She was lightly smiling at me. " Thank you, Miss. Paulson for being concerned with my well being you're very sweet." I said quietly. " Thank you, Avery. Please consider all that I said today. Call me if you need help Avery, for anything." I nodded and headed towards the door. "Have a nice day Miss. Paulson" I said before I opened the door. "You too Avery." I left her room shutting the door behind me and leaning against the wall. "Oh my God that was so close, I really need to be more careful." Though it made me really happy to realize she was concerned with what was happening to me. I knew that I could not tell her what was happening yet. I pushed away from the wall knowing I had to get to class because I had missed quite a lot of it.
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Hey guys how are y'all doing. Hopefully you're well. Thanks for reading today's chapter. I hope you are enjoying my book so far. Next chapter Avery is taking Ava to the mall. Maybe she will run into someone there. Wink Wonk 😏 Anyways thanks for visiting my corner of the internet. Stay safe.
-S