Author's Note: I figured a cute embarrassing story would lighten the mood.
I clutched my books to my chest and walked down the hallway. I didn't want to give anyone the chance to hit them out of my hands today. I could hear people whispering as I walked by. I held back the tears. For whatever reason no one liked me. After mom and dad died it gave everyone else another reason to make fun of me for something I didn't have. I kept my head down and made eye contact with no one. I could feel teachers looking at me sympathetically. It was worse than being bullied to look into their faces and lie about being okay. It was the hardest with Nii-chan. No matter how many calls he got saying I was being harassed I would go through it all. I couldn't disappointed him. I looked up and met the eyes of a girl who always wanted to help me. I never gave her the chance. She didn't need to be tortured too. I forced myself to smile and looked back down.
Before I knew it I was flying toward the ground face first. My books flew in the air. One landed on my back with a loud thump, knocking the air out of me. Papers scattered around. I could hear some people laughing, others whispering about how horrible it was. The girl stepped forward and I shook my head. She took another step forward and bent down to grab my book. A boy kicked it out of her reach. I got to my hands and knees and started gathering my papers one by one. I could feel the tears stinging my eyes. I wouldn't cry. Not in front of them.
My silence made them nervous more than anything. A normal person would react to being pushed around. If I did that I would break down. If I kept silent, did nothing they'd call me a freak and go away. Then I could feel sorry for myself later. I picked up all my books and walked into the nearest bathroom. I'd just barely sat on the toilet before the sobs wracked my body. I couldn't even breathe. I only stopped when I heard the sink turn on. I bit down on my lip in case it was another student. He wasn't leaving though. Maybe...he wanted to help. I tried to keep silent, but failed.
A couple minutes later I pushed open the stall door and walked out. Standing at the sink was a teacher. I'd heard about him from all the girls. He had silver hair and purple eyes. He was very attractive for a man his age. I could only hope to look a little like that when I got older, if I survived high school. I dropped my books on the ground and filled the sink with water. I splashed my face with water. When I leaned over the sink my back stung. I fell to my knees after making a pained noise.
"Are you okay?" His voice was velvety. I smiled. I'd gotten good at smiling when I wasn't fine.
"I'm okay." My knees hurt. My palms were scraped. When I touched my cheek my hand came back bloody. "I'm used to it." His eyes narrowed.
"I'm taking you to the nurse. This is ridiculous. I didn't know I was getting a job at this kind of place." I was going to protest, but he reached down and grabbed my books. Then he scooped me up into his arms.
"You don't have to-" I was cut off by his glare.
"Shut up. Someone does." I got the strangest looks in the hallway. A couple teachers nodded in approval. One teacher who tried to help me had even been bullied by students. He opened the door and entered the office.
"Oh my!" The nurse came running over. She'd been my only ally during this. After I was all patched up the nurse left on lunch break. There was no way I'd be able to hide all this from Nii-chan. I only got tripped. Why was there so much damage?
"Thank you for helping me..." I stared down at my hands.
"So you're Misaki Takahashi. I was under the impression you were a problem student because of what I heard. It's everyone else with the problem." I looked at his ID. Usami Akihiko. "I read your file and when you had no discipline record I couldn't understand what I was being warned about."
"It's always been this way." I stood up slowly. "You must have somewhere to be. I have to get to class too. Thank you so much." I bowed and walked slowly down the hallway to my next class. I'd taken art to get away from judge-mental people. Everyone in there left me alone and even talked to me sometimes. The teacher was nice. It was the only time I could escape. I walked in and could hear the gasps and whispering.
"What happened?" Someone finally had the courage to ask.
"Someone tripped me in the hallway...I was just carrying a lot of textbooks and they flew everywhere. I'm fine though." My face hurt too much to smile. I took my seat quickly. My teacher looked like she might cry.
I was walking home when I felt something hit me. I looked down to see a water bottle. I kept walking, only a little faster. Something hit my back. Things just kept flying at me. I walked faster, but I didn't run and I didn't cry. A car pulled up next to me, the tires squealing. "Get in!" It was Usami-sensei. I shook my head. "Get in the car!" I backed away. He made a sound between a grown and a growl. He opened the door and pulled me inside before speeding off. I shut the door before I went rolling out of the car. "I should kill those assholes." He started to turn around.
"No! Don't do anything!" He looked over at me. He turned back onto the main road and started driving.
"Where do you live?" I didn't answer. "I'm not letting you out anywhere unsafe. Speak up."
"In the apartment complex near the supermarket." I said it quietly. I moved closer to the window and tried to calm myself down.
"This is fucking insane. You didn't even do anything." I kept my head down. He pulled into the apartment complex. "Why do you let them?"
"If I react it's worse. I've learned that over the past couple years." He stared at me. And then his lips were on mine.
"Usami-sensei you can't!"
"I can and I will." In the dead of winter it didn't take long for the windows of that red sports car to steam up. He gently worked around my wounds. "Call me Usagi." Such a weird nickname. It fit him though.
My eyes snapped open and I sat up. Usagi was sitting on the end of the bed staring at me. "Usami-sensei?" I could feel my face go red. I didn't know whether to be embarrassed by that, or the tears that started running down my face. "Misaki?" How could one moment in my life produce such a horrifying dream...it had a good ending, but still. In high school I had been tripped in the hallway...it was nothing like that though. It was still so embarrassing I wanted to crawl in a hole and die...but not literally. And of course the one thing I said in my sleep had to be Usami-sensei...
"Sorry...it was just a bad dream...well good and bad...and scary." And feeling like a little kid made me even more embarrassed. Usagi wrapped his arms around me.
"Want to at least tell me the good part?"
