We do not own the Foster, although we wished that we did.
"Good morning Bell," Lena said as she walked up to the young girl, unlocking the classroom door for the day.
""Hi, Mrs. Adams Foster." Bell quietly whispered looking up, letting her hands uncleanch from fists and relax for just a moment as she looked around the hallway and didn't see anyone that would be a threat.
"How was your weekend?" Lena asked, she tried to get the girl to talk but Bell was always so quiet that she didn't take offense or worry much when Bell just smiled and whispered her answer before taking her seat and pulling out her notes to review before the bell rang.
Lena had been subbing in the class for a few weeks now since the regular teacher had to call out for a family emergency, Lena loved interacting with the kids so she didn't mind. Looking at the clock, Lena realized that Bell was at school almost fifteen minutes early, "You didn't go to the morning pep rally?"
Bell looked up from her notes and shook her head no, once, "It's too loud. Plus there would be to many people."
Lena couldn't help but laugh, she had been relieved to find out enough teachers were going that she didn't have to go to the six am pep rally, homecoming week was exhausting enough without two pep rallies in one day. "You can still go down now, if you would like."
Bell shook her head and then looked down at her notes, "Oh. I was hoping it would be alright to stay in here, but I can go if it's not."
Lena shook her head, quickly realizing she had made the timid girl uncomfortable, "Oh no, honey, it's completely okay for you to stay in the classroom."
Once Bell had relaxed again, her body visibly not as tense, Lena started on work of her own, playing music to fill the empty, silent room. After a couple of minutes, Lena looked up to notice Bell mouthing the words along to the song on the radio while scratching at her arm and looking down at the same notes she had been studying ten minutes earlier, to Lena it was clear that the girl was stressing but she didn't want to startle Bell, so Lena continued to watch as Bell scratched at the skin on her hand until it was red and raw, and watched as Bell, carefully did not lift her sleeve but scratched at her arm for some time also.
"I'll be right back," Lena stated when she stood to get something off the printer, she couldn't tell why but she was drawn to the young girl, Lena wanted nothing more than to just get Bell to talk to her, to trust her. When Lena reentered the room, she noticed that Bell was staring at her phone and quietly singing along to the song still playing from the computer.
"Oh." Bell said, when she noticed Lena staring at her grinning at her phone, "It's just a gir... friend." Bell finished quickly and put her phone away and stopped singing along as she went back to studying.
Lena wanted to find some way to help Bell, find her a friend, or to find out why she was scratching at her own skin so much, but didn't know quite where to start, and before Lena could figure it out, her class was starting.
After the class, which Bell hadn't said a single word to any of her classmates during, Lena noticed Bell lingering behind and packing another binder into her already oversized bag.
"Sweetheart, what is with that bag? You're going to fall right over with that on your shoulder." Lena said, the bag easily had everything Bell needed for the day, if not more.
"Oh,yeah."Bell adjusted the bag on her shoulder and then laughed, "It's all the books and binders I need for the day. I don't go to my locker." Bell looked down at the floor, ashamed that she was already trusting her teacher, knowing she couldn't, "I don't even know where my locker is."
"Here, I can find out for you." Lena said about to write herself a note before Bell almost disappeared from the room.
"Don't worry about it. I won't use it anyways." Bell whispered and just smiled at Lena, "Bye Mrs. Adams Foster, thanks though."
Lena sat there trying to figure out how to help, she hated seeing her students like this, even more so now that she had kids the same age as her students, knowing that teenagers should just be able to feel safe.