Page 126 of Apparently, I’m Trouble

She dropped her hands and gave me a look. I knew that look. It was the you don’t have to hurt yourself to help me look.

“That’s why you should talk to him.”

“If I talk to him, I’ll probably end up seeing him, and then I’ll kiss him and do god knows what else.”

I threw my hands in the air. “And I can’t do that because if I get sucked in again, it’ll only end up hurting Kira more than it already has. I already did that once, and you lost your job because of it.”

Lilly came close enough to take my hand. She squeezed it as she said, “Mia, it’s not your fault. We’re a result-based school. If it wasn’t this, it would’ve been something else.” She shrugged. “Rutton bases promotions on results, and I didn’t deliver.”

I stared at her, long and hard, as students rushed by our staffroom door. “But… you’ve gotten results. Consistently.”

She lifted her shoulder. “Not in the ways that counted, I guess.”

A kernel of irritation flared in my middle. And the more I looked at my best friend’s beautiful-yet-sad face, the more it grew.

Lilly delivered in all the ways that mattered. She was an incredible mentor, an empathetic teacher. Her students could lean on her, depend on her. And her faith in what they could accomplish showed at the end of every term.

And if Rutton couldn’t see that, then… fine. I would have to make her see it.

At the very least, it might help undo some of the damage I’d caused.

South Bronx Classical

Thursday Afternoon

Soft snickers and whispers never bothered me. They didn’t bother me when they came from adults, and they definitely didn’t bother me when they came from students.

What did bother me was that they bothered Kira.

The bell rang, and my class filed out, excited that they only had one lesson left for the day. They could practically see their freedom dangling in front of them as we got closer and closer to the weekend.

I stepped into the hallway and blinked. The afternoon was brighter than I wanted it to be, and my eyes didn’t appreciate it. I would’ve rubbed them, but that would’ve smeared the latest dollop of concealer I’d swiped on.

Still, I managed to get to my next class just fine. I had my hand on the metal doorknob, ready to turn it and lock myself inside, until a series of odd noises made me pause.

I turned to see three girls–Amber and two others–following Kira. They were puckering their lips and smacking them together right behind her back.

The hallway was lined with students. They turned from their lockers to watch, some pulling out phones to film it. She walked on, gaze fixed forward, ignoring them.

But I couldn’t ignore it.

“Hey,” I yelled, dropping my hand from the door. “Amber. What do you think you’re doing?”

The girls froze. Kira kept walking.

“Nothing,” Amber said, already turning to run away.

“Don’t you even think about it. I saw what you were doing just now. And you two.” I looked at the two girls flanking Amber. “Do you really think it’s okay to treat someone like that?”

“We were just kidding, Miss Walker. It’s not like–”

“I don’t want to hear it. What I want is an apology. From all of you.”

“They don’t have to, Miss Walker.” I looked to my left, and Kira was by my shoulder, eyes downcast.

My lips flattened out. I was too angry to be happy about the fact that she’d finally spoken to me.

“Yes, they do,” I seethed. “This isn’t okay. We don’t treat people like this here.”