Girl Meets Senseless
Authors Note - I'm not 100% sure where this is eventually going but it isn't fluffy bunny town. Other stories will generally be happier. Trigger Warning – Suicide.
Mr. Matthews was just completing a lesson comparing the student's lives to pepper. Apparently they were making him sneeze today and so he'd gone off on a stranger rant than usual. Lucas was off at a dentist appointment. Maya was drawing in her notebook having long since given up even trying to understand this one. Riley was trying to be polite to her dad and listening but even she was barely holding on.
Farkle spoke up. "I'm confused. So, does that mean I get to grind everyone up when I take over the world?"
Mr. Matthews looked at him strangely. "No, Farkle, it does not. Have you even been listening to me today?"
Farkle seemed a little crestfallen. "I've been trying sir, but…."
Riley chimed in. "This hasn't been your best lecture, Dad."
Mr. Matthews sat down at his desk. "Sorry guys. I tried. Sometimes you do your best and it just isn't enough. Maybe that's a better lesson then this pepper thing. I've been a little bit distracted. We were supposed to get a new student today but he hasn't arrived yet."
"Fresh blood…." Hummed Farkle.
"An opportunity to make a new friend!" chimed in Riley.
"I know I had an orange colored pencil in here somewhere…" Maya muttered under her breath while she dug deeper into her bag. Mr. Matthews opened a drawer in his desk, rummaged around, and pulled out the same type of pencil she was looking for. He put it on Maya's desk and she grabbed it without even looking up. He smiled gently at her.
Mr. Matthews looked over at Maya, then back to the rest of the class. "I'd be upset but I don't think I'd have paid attention to my lecture today either."
He was interrupted by a knock at the door. An office aide brought in a shorter boy with jet black hair. "Sorry about the delay Mr. Matthews. It took longer than we thought to get everything settled."
"That's OK. There isn't much time left but at least he'll get a chance to see everyone. Class? I'd like you to meet Sam Spires. He just transferred in from West Chester."
There was the typical new kid half-hearted 'Hello' from the class. The only person who really sounded welcoming was Riley. Maya didn't even look up.
Mr. Matthews continued. "Anyway, Sam. Are you up to telling us a little bit about yourself? Or maybe your previous school?" Sam just shook his head and found an empty seat at the back of the class. "Well, if you change your mind, just let me know, OK?" Mr. Matthews finished. He went on to detail the homework for that evening and shortly after that, the bell rang. When it did, Riley popped right out of her seat and started toward Sam. Her father moved quickly to intercept her.
"What's wrong, dad?" Riley asked.
"Give Sam a couple of days before he gets your standard big welcome, OK? I'm not sure if he'd be up to it today."
"But Dad… I don't want to be rude. I want him to feel welcome!"
"I know. Just… not today."
"What do you know that I don't know?" Riley asked.
"A lot, actually. That's why I'm your teacher." He replied. "Look, just trust me and give him some space."
"All right." Riley finally agreed. She pulled Maya up out of her drawing and the two of them headed off to their next class.
When they got to class the next day, the new student wasn't there. Neither was Mr. Matthews. The bell had rung fifteen minutes ago and neither one had shown up.
Maya sat singing to herself and drumming on her desk. When another minute dragged by, she looked over to Riley. "Where the heck is your dad? He wasn't sick this morning or something, was he?"
Riley thought about it. "He seemed fine. Mom did make oatmeal though, so…"
Farkle obviously wasn't handling the lack of a teacher well. "I saw him in the hall a few minutes before class too. Then the principal grabbed his elbow and, poof, he was gone."
"Like magic?" asked Riley. "Was my Daddy spirited away?"
"Sorry Riley. It was an expression. They just left together really fast. Hey, three more minutes and I can take over the class. Mr. Matthews said last year that if he was ever more than twenty minutes late, I got to take over!" Farkle glanced down, realizing he'd said a little too much. "Sorry. I meant that he just wanted me to go over school stuff until he arrived." Farkle's eyes narrowed. "Eventually."
Lucas joined into the discussion. "Why don't they just send us a substitute or something?"
Maya replied. "They tried that a couple of times. It never worked out well. Between dealing with Farkle and me, most subs explode after about fifteen minutes. I'm kind of sad they stopped trying. If I drove one more nuts, the mental hospital was going to send me a set of steak knives."
Lucas looked shocked. "You are kidding, right?"
Maya waggled her eyebrows at him suggestively.
Riley interrupted. "She's kidding. Well, mostly kidding. Several subs have quit but none of them have ended up in a hospital or anything. Well, that we know of…. But that was before you got here to help calm her down."
"20 minutes!" shouted Farkle. He jumped out of his desk and had almost made it to the front of the room when Mr. Matthews finally entered. For a moment, it looked like Farkle was going to complain about losing his chance to rule, but the look on Mr. Matthews's face caught him up short. Without a word, he returned to his desk.
Maya hadn't really looked up from her drumming yet so all she noticed was Farkle heading back. "Denied! Today is not your day."
"Maya, please." Mr. Matthews managed to say.
"Oh come on Mr. Matthews! Farkle would kill himself if he missed one of these opportunities."
"Maya!" Mr. Matthews said more forcefully then he ever had before. She stopped her drumming and turned up to see his face. His eyes were a bit red. So were his cheeks."
Her eyes widened. "What's going on?
Riley had caught the panicked note in his voice as well. "Dad?"
Mr. Matthews shook his head gently at Riley and then he cleared his throat. Then he took a deep breath. He tried to talk and he couldn't. He took another deep breath. "Class. I have some very bad news. There isn't any good way to tell you this. Sam Spires passed away last night." And that was as much as he was able to say.
Maya couldn't help herself. "What?"
Lucas spoke up too. "I'm very sorry to hear that. Mr. Matthews. But I'm not sure who you're talking about, sir."
Mr. Matthews seemed unable to speak for the moment so Lucas and Maya looked over at Riley figuring maybe she would know who Sam was. Riley just sat there in shock.
"Sam joined our class yesterday. It was after you left for your dentist appointment. Mr. Matthews introduced him right before the bell rang."
"Farkle? You're crazy. I'd remember if a new kid had…" Maya trailed off as first Farkle's and then Mr. Matthews's expressions didn't change. "I guess I wasn't paying attention." she said apologetically.
Lucas looked up at Mr. Matthews. "Mr. Matthews? Is Farkle right?" Mr. Matthews nodded.
Riley couldn't contain herself. "What do you mean he passed away? He was just here yesterday."
Mr. Matthews spoke. "I know. Everyone? School will be letting out early today. Buses are on their way. The counselors are available if anyone of you need someone to talk to about this loss. I expect there will be a memorial service announced soon and any of you who would like to attend may do so."
"But what happened?" Maya pressed.
"The school district would prefer it if I don't give you any details." He said.
"Well, the news probably already knows so we'll find out when we get home. Why not tell us now?" Maya said, pulling out her phone. She began tapping at the screen quickly."
"Maya, please put away your phone."
She ignored him and kept tapping. Mr. Matthews reached over to take her phone out of her hands but it was too late. She looked up at Mr. Matthews in disbelief. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have… They're wrong, aren't they? He didn't…"
"He did." He took a deep breath. Then he looked at the concern written across the faces of his students and knew how may terrible things there were that could have finished Maya's sentence.
"I'm not supposed to tell you and I may even get in trouble for this, but Maya's correct. You will end up hearing about it and it's better that you hear the truth. We don't know all the details but we do know this. Last night, Sam took his own life."
