“Hi, sweetie, how are you feeling?”
“Hi, babe, I’m feeling much better. I took a nap and my mom gave me some soup and crackers. I still feel like shit, but I’ll live.” She sounds much healthier and her breathing is not as shallow as it was earlier.
“I’m glad you feel better, Melanie. I’ll come by later today, okay?” I look over to Raya who is watching me talk on the phone and she smiles.
“Yes, that’s fine, Duke. I’ll see ya later. Call me right before you get here and I’ll leave the door open for you.”
“Okay, go back to bed and rest. See you soon, sweetie.” I end the call and see Raya is trying to hide a smile. We continue our walk to the East Wing and are approaching the entrance. When I grab the door to pull it open, Raya giggles. “What is it, Raya? Something funny?” She walks past me as I hold the door open for her and turns around to face me. “It’s nothing, just typical that you would have a girlfriend. I’m not surprised. You’re very sweet and very popular. I don’t see you having a string of girls glued to your dick, so I guess that’s a good thing.” She smiles and turns away, continuing the journey to Calculus.
I just stand there stunned. What did she just say? Where did this girl come from? I jog to catch up to her and begin laughing, “Wow, you had me there for a second. I was not expecting that to come out of your mouth.” She looks at me out of the corner of her eye and sticks her tongue out.
“What, I just say what’s on my mind. Yes, I can be shy at first, but I’m not scared of you or anything.”
“Ha! Well, lucky me I guess.” As we climb the stairs to the second floor, I see Jose standing outside of the classroom talking to his buddies. Great, not this asshole again. As Raya and I approach the classroom, Jose spots us and I can see the look on his face as he notices Raya. His eyes open wide and his facial expression screams fresh meat and my blood begins to boil. I’m going to have to warn Raya about Jose. She seems like a sweet girl and I don’t want her to get hurt by this fucker. I walk past him and give him a look of disgust as I walk to my seat. Raya glances at Jose as she passes him and heads toward the teacher’s desk and introduces herself. Jose walks into class and sits at his desk, two rows away from me. I notice the only empty seat in class is right in front of Jose. Shit, Raya’s going to have to sit there. Fuck my life.
Mrs. Robinson clears her throat and stands in the center of the class while pointing to Raya. “Class, please welcome Raya Winters. She is a transfer from New Haven High School and will be here for the remainder of the year.” She turns to Raya and points at the empty seat in front of Jose. “Raya, we only have one empty seat in front of Jose, so make yourself comfortable. If you have any questions, please see me after class.”
Raya smiles at her and says, “Thank you, Mrs. Robinson.” She walks to her empty seat and smiles at me as she sits down. I give her a small wave and smile back. I notice Jose lean up close to her and he taps her shoulder and whispers into her ear. Raya turns around and gives him a dirty look and quickly turns back around to face the front. She’s got spunk, I like it. Jose slumps back into his chair but I know he’s not giving up so easily.
“Alright, class, open up your textbooks to chapter three.” The class groans as Mrs. Robinson begins the lesson and starts writing equations on the chalkboard. I look over to Raya who is listening attentively and writing notes. Her long, brown hair covers her face as she writes but the natural brown waves bounce and shine in the light. I catch Jose running his pen through the ends of her hair and she must have felt it because she turns around and whispers to him. He immediately starts laughing out loud, causing a disruption, and Mrs. Robinson turns around, clearly upset.
“Jose, what is so funny you have to disrupt the lesson?”
“Mrs. Robinson, I apologize but Raya caught me off guard. It won’t happen again.” He smiles at the teacher and sits up straight in his seat, clearing his throat.
Mrs. Robinson walks up to Raya, with a suspicious look. “Raya, anything you have to add? I will not tolerate a disruptive student, so if you’d rather visit the principle, I’m sure you can find
your way.” At this point, the whole class is staring at Raya and a look of stress and panic hits her face. “No, please, Mrs. Robinson. I apologize for the disruption. Please don’t alert the principal.” Her voice is full of fear and her breathing is scarce as she breaks out into a sweat. Her blue eyes stare into Mrs. Robinson as she pleads for forgiveness.
Mrs. Robinson lets out a heavy sigh, “Very well, then. There will not be a second chance.” As she returns to her lesson she glances back at Raya with a puzzled look. Raya looks at me and sends a smile but her eyes are sad and she is fighting back tears. I shrug my shoulders and shake my head. What’s wrong? Why didn’t she just say Jose was bothering her? What’s so bad about the principal’s office? I try to get her to send me a hint—anything—but nothing. She just keeps her head down for the remainder of the class.
When the bell rings and everyone gets ready to put away their belongings, I glance over at Raya, who is still silent. Something is bothering her and I can’t help her if she doesn’t tell me what’s wrong. Frankly, I’m getting annoyed and it’s starting to piss me off. Jose walks out of class and starts laughing and yelling in the halls. He’s probably already talking to his friends about her and how he’s going to trick her into his bed. As I’m thinking of all the vile things he’s saying, I snap the pencil that I’m holding in my hand. I’m about to lose it; I need to get out of here before I beat the shit out of that fucker. I get up and grab my backpack and walks toward Raya who is gathering her things. “Hey, you okay? Jose is a fucking prick, so stay away from him.” She looks up at me as tears stream down her face. She shakes her head and walks right out of class. “Hey, Raya, what’s wrong?!” I run outside of class to catch up to her and see her running down the stairs. “Just leave me alone, Duke!” she yells as she exits the building.
Duke
“Hi, baby, how was your day?” Melanie snuggles into the sofa next to me and rests her head on my shoulders. God, I missed her today and I’m happy she’s with me right now. I kiss the top of her hand and wrap her up in my arms. “I had one hell of a day today. I almost got into a fight with Jose.” She looks at me with shock in her eyes and gasps, “Oh my God, what happened?” I shake my head, run my fingers through my hair, and breathe a sigh.
“It’s a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
“Yes, baby. Tell me. I can tell something is bothering you. What happened?” I can tell she’s worried about me and it wasn’t my intention to spring this on her, especially since she’s sick.
“A new girl started today, Raya. She’s a transfer from New Haven and we met in Forensics class.” I immediately think back to Rob’s blue mess of a face and chuckle a little bit.
“What’s so funny? I want to know.”
“Nothing, I need to call Rob later. Ha-ha. Anyway, Raya also has Calculus with me, so we walked to class together and Mrs. Robinson told her to sit in front of Jose.” I look at Melanie who’s listening attentively and looking up at me. I give her a quick kiss on the lips and continue on. “I’m not sure what happened, but Jose was messing with her hair and she defended herself by saying something to him and he disrupted the class. Mrs. Robinson threatened to send Raya to the principal’s office and she completely panicked.”
“What do you mean she panicked? It’s just the principal’s office. She wasn’t going to get expelled or anything.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, but she had a full panic attack. There was so much fear in her eyes and she began to tremble. I’ve never seen anyone so scared before. For the remainder of the class, she kept her head down and stayed silent. When class was over and I asked her what was wrong, she ran away from me and told me to leave her alone.”
Melanie gets up from the sofa and walks into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. I follow her and wrap my arm around her as she drinks from the glass. She turns around and looks at me, “Did she say why her family moved here from New Haven? I wonder why she’s so scared of getting into trouble. Do you think her parents are strict?” I pull her back into the living room and sit her on my lap. “She didn’t say anything about her family, and honestly, I have no idea. I mean, I guess her parents can be strict. Something was definitely bothering her.” Melanie snuggles into my chest and breathes in my scent and kisses my chest. “I don’t know, Duke. Once I get better, I’ll try to talk to her. Okay?”
I flash her a bright smile and brush my finger along her cheek. “What would I do without you?” She gives me a quick kiss on the lips, “Yes, you are one lucky guy.”
I chuckle and reach around her to grab the television remote. “Alright, what’s on your DVR right now?” I begin to flick through her recorded television shows and nothing piques my interest. I pause at one show and look at her as she laughs out loud. “Really, Melanie, Days of Our Lives? My mother watches this soap opera.”
She grabs a sofa pillow and hits me with it. “Don’t start, Duke. It’s a good show! Besides, I want to know what happens with Sammy. She’s always up to something!”