"Ib, if you don't mind staying after school, we need to speak." Garry whispered as the girl passed- exiting the class room. She almost stopped dead in her tracks.

"Yes sensei. We do. I'll be here after last period." She sounded robotic and emotionless. It saddened him to hear her speak in such a manor.

"I will see you then. Thank you."

*Smile*

At the end of the day she came as she said she would and sat down politely at her desk.

"You don't have to sit there you know. You could even sit at my desk if you would like." Garry chided with a grin. Such a good student. Such a cute girl.

"Sorry. I sat here out of habit I guess. Can I really sit at your desk?" Ib was quiet as always, but seemed cheerier than earlier that day. He smiled at her, standing up and pulling his chair out.

"It's very comfortable." She stood up and approached the desk slowly, and then gingerly sat down. He saw the corners of her mouth curl up a little as she settled deeper into the chair.

"You like it?" He asked. Ib nodded.

"Sensei, if you don't mind me being to blunt- can we please cut to the chase? I have the feeling you are stalling the conversation we must have." It was shocking to her her small voice speak so strongly. It was almost like a smack to the face. Damn. This girl, she never ceases to surprise me.

Garry cleared his throat. "If you insist. As you already know, I had you stay after so we could talk about what happened last night." He spoke slowly, almost in an attempt to continue stalling. She simply nodded as a cue for him to go on.

"Ib. I first want to apologize. You are probably very confused and I am sorry for that. I did wrong by you last night and frankly, I feel horrible about it."

"You did." Ib interjected quietly.

"Pardon?" He was taken aback by the sharpness in her voice.

"You did do wrong by me Sensei. You were so nice and kind- but then you just left with out a word. People don't usually rant about being worried for you just to run away." Her throat sounded thick, it was obvious that she was choking back a sob. Garry swiveled the chair to face him and crouched down to her level. Her face was down- but the dark, wet spots on her uniform skirt displayed the tears that she was trying so hard to hide. He wanted to hug her, tell her the truth, do something to calm her down or make her feel better. But her couldn't. That would risk his career- his reputation.

"I didn't want to do that." He whispered.

"Than why did you?" Ib's voice cracked into a small whine.

"Something came up."

"But what? You looked terrified!" She was openly crying now. I did that. I made her cry. How can I fix it? I'm a horrible teacher, person even!

"I am so sorry. Don't cry, please. You're doing a disservice to you're beautiful face." He whispered, wiping as many of her tears as he could. "I can't tell you."

"Why not? Please!" She was trying to calm down- but the drops of sadness continued to pour from her puffy eyes.

"Ib. I... I can't. If I told you and anyone heard me, if you told anyone- I would be fired. My whole life would be ruined. Now, I'm going to be swapping you into to Ms. Violet's English class. I can't be around you anymore." It hurt. It hurt him to say those things to her. It hurt to see her face contort into such a horrible expression.

"Se-sensei... What did I do? Have I been a bad student? How-What can I do to make up for it? I promise, I'll make it up! I'm sorry! Just don't make me leave! I..." The rest of her sentence was just above a mumble. But Garry knew exactly what she said.

"I love you, Garry."

His heart dropped the second he heard the second word. He looked towards the door and quickly stood up straight and paced towards it. He stuck his head out and looked down both sides of the hall before closing it. He then leaned against the wood and looked at the girl crying at his desk.

"Ib. You can't just say that. I am your teacher- not a friend." He scolded. I'm not even going to ask how she knew my given name...

"But you are a friend! My very best friend, and you have been for years!"

*AN*

Okay, I officially suck. XD U haven't really been logging on, and I just did for the first time in months- so I was shocked when my little story had so many reviews. I am sorry for the delay in update and how short this was, I PROMISE I WILL WRITE MORE VERY SOON!