I don't own TiMER or anything in regards to that idea. The characters and story line are the only thing belonging to me. Enjoy!
Re-write of ch 8 done! 5/22/22
When I finally made it to Andy's office his door was closed. The possibility of him not being in there hadn't crossed my mind. He wasn't in the cafeteria, so I assumed he was in his office. I decided to knock still, that was the only way to find out if he was there. After a moment of silence, I knocked again, this time a little harder. It was possible that he hadn't heard the knock. I did have small hands after all. But even after my harder knock there was no answer, and I knew that one was loud enough to be heard.
I almost gave up and went back to the lunchroom when one final idea came into my head. He was in the stadium, probably in the lounge. He wouldn't have any interruptions there, so it was perfect if he was upset. It was all I had to go on at least, so I hoped I was right this time.
Not wanting to waste any time, I sprinted to the stadium. The pitch and bleachers were quiet and dark, but that didn't deter me. He probably wouldn't leave any lights on up here, which would be a dead giveaway to where he was.
I quickly made my way to the tunnel and travelled down the propped open hallway. There was light on where the lounge opened up! I almost cheered at that and made my way down the hall.
I was almost to lounge when I heard voices talking. At the moment I was hidden from whoever was talking in the room. After a second I realized it was the principal and Andy talking. I knew I shouldn't have been eavesdropping but I had a good hunch they were talking about me and not only was I curious but I found myself unable to move from where I was standing.
"…until further arrangements are made," the principal said. I hadn't heard what he'd said before that.
"Is she okay with it all?" Andy piped in. Their voices were soft and it was a strain to hear them but I think I was catching all their words correctly.
"She remained silent during the meeting this morning, so I could not really tell," the principal replied.
"Surely you caught her body language though, right?" Andy asked, this time there was a bit of strain in his voice.
"That's not for me to say. However, it seems as if Mrs. Parker is adamant in keeping her daughter away from you. For the time being I am going to need you to respect her wishes. You can do that right?" the principal continued.
There was a silent moment. I wished I could have seen what was going on. What was Andy doing? Why wasn't he replying? I wanted to run in there and to make sure he was okay.
"And what happens if I can't?" Andy finally asked after a minute.
"I'm going to have to fire you," the principal responded. My mouth dropped. Fire him?
"Excuse me?" Andy asked. He sounded a bit angry.
"I don't want to risk this school, or you, getting in trouble. I'm not sure what Mrs. Parker is capable of. If she requests her daughter to not see you during school hours it is my job to make that happen. If it doesn't she may come back around with a restraining order or a lawsuit. I will not have my school have that kind of reputation," the principal said, almost yelling. There was an edge to his voice that made me assume his face was a bit red.
"And how do you feel about all this?" Andy bit back.
"It's out of my hands," the principal replied.
"That's not what I asked," Andy growled.
"Honestly, I think Mrs. Parker is over reacting. Yes I am a little worried that parents or members of the community will frown upon a student and teacher dating but in this day and age that's the old way of thinking. They will know your TiMER matches hers and accept it, or most people will. If Mrs. Parker weren't instructing me to do this I would just tell you to not make a huge deal about it and not let it affect your class or on the soccer field. I have no say so in what happens outside of this school, so if you see her then I cannot say anything. But I am sticking to my word, if I find out you and Ms. Parker are together on school grounds you will be fired. Do you understand that?" The principal asked. There was a moment of silence again. The silence was killing me. I couldn't see what was happening. And I didn't dare barge in there now.
"Yes sir," Andy said in a tone that sounded like his teeth were gritted.
"Very good. Now, there is about 30 minutes left in this lunch period. If you'll excuse me, I have some things I need to tend to. Have a good rest of lunch," the principal said. My eyes got really wide. He was going to start coming this way! I had to get out of there. My feet didn't seem to want to move though. I could hear footsteps coming this way. I had to move. I couldn't be caught here.
Swiftly I ran back up the hallway, trying to be silent but trying to move as fast as I could. I knew if I left the tunnel that I wouldn't find a place to hide in time, the pitch was simply too large. Instead, I darted into the girls' locker room and made sure to close the door quietly. The room was pitch dark and I couldn't see anything. My eyes were trying to adjust but I was moving too fast, and it was too dark. I ran into something solid and almost cried out but covered my mouth before I made a noise. Whatever I ran into was big and weighed more than I did, because it didn't seem to move at all. I moved my hands around whatever it was in attempt to find an edge and hide behind it.
When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw that it was some type of table. And I had smacked right into the side of it.
I heard his footsteps get closer and closer and then fade away. He was humming something the whole way out and then I heard a door open and close.
I let out the breath I was holding and leaned my head against the podium. My side hurt where I ran into it and I was sure it was going to bruise. I winced as I stood, noting that it hurt quite a bit, but disregarded it and looked back doors leading out of the tunnel before heading down to the lounge. It was quiet, so I made my way down.
Andy was sitting at a table with one of his hands holding up his head, the other holding a fork that was sifting through a salad. He looked really distraught and hadn't noticed my entrance. He wasn't even eating the salad. That was one thing we both had in common, neither of us were hungry.
"Hey," I softly said, making him jerk his head up and stare at me with wide-open eye.
"What are you- you shouldn't- how did you-" he stammered and stood up.
"Calm down," I said and walked closer. "The principal didn't see me. I know I shouldn't be here. But I needed to talk to you."
The sat back down in his chair and made a huge sigh. "How did you know the principal was here?"
"I sorta kinda overheard a good part of your conversation with him," I admitted and looked down at my feet.
"What?!" he yelled. I knew he'd be angry. Eavesdropping was never okay. I should have left when I heard the principal talking.
"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I wanted to leave, but I couldn't move. I know you could get fired talking to me. And I'm really sorry. I'm sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen."
I heard Andy get up and walk over to me but I didn't look up from my feet. He was probably leaving the room so he didn't get fired. That was expected. I couldn't be mad at him. It was stupid even coming down here.
When I felt his arms around me I jumped. I wasn't expecting him to come hug me. What was he doing?
"Shhhh," he started. "Don't cry. It's okay. I know this isn't your fault. Please don't beat yourself up about this." I hadn't even realized I was crying. When did I start crying? I sniffled back a tear and looked up at him.
"Your locker room did a good job of that so I don't have to," I tried joking and sobbed a little bit. My side still hurt.
He dropped his arms and backed up. "What? What do you mean?" he asked with a concerned tone. I told him about running into the table and how my side hurt. His eyes widened and he looked down at the side I was pointing at.
I lifted up my shirt a little to reveal my side, which was indeed, really red and sore.
"You should probably ice that," Andy said after a minute. I shrugged and stared at my side. It would be fine and probably just bruise a little. "Don't shrug at me. I want you to go to the nurse and have her look at you."
"And tell her what, that I ran into a table in a dark locker room because I was running from the principal after I eavesdropped on him and my soulmate having a conversation about how I couldn't see my soulmate ever again?" I asked faster than I thought I could talk.
"Of course not," Andy said. "Tell her you were at lunch and ran into a table because you weren't looking where you were going."
I looked at him for a moment. "You came up with that really fast," I admitted.
He shrugged. "I do what I can. You should go before lunch is over."
I nodded and started to leave. Andy grabbed my hand and spun me around.
"We'll figure this out," he said. "I don't know how yet, but don't worry about it. We have time. Be careful."
I frowned. "My mom is serious though. I don't think this is going to get better."
"Maybe not right now, but we'll work through it," he stated and smiled at me. Before letting go of my hand he gave it a squeeze. I smiled back and took off in search of the nurse's office.
I had never been to the nurse's office, so I wasn't sure exactly where I was going so I ended up aimlessly walking around until I made it to the main office. I walked in and asked the secretary where it was. She gave me easy directions and asked me if I was okay. Not wanting to get into the whole thing with her, I wasn't even sure if the lie was going to work, I told her I was. She seemed to be okay with my answer and sent me on my way. Maybe I could lie better than I thought.
There were three other kids waiting for the nurse when I got there. The door was closed so I assumed she was tending to someone and I sat down in an empty seat. The kids didn't look sick, but I supposed I didn't either and had to remind myself not everyone went to the nurse because they were sick.
"She's been in there for a little while," one of the kids said. I nodded and kept silent.
"I just want my meds, she needs to hurry," another one said. Again, I kept silent, not knowing how to respond to that. I'd never needed daily medicine so I wasn't sure what was wrong with the kid. He didn't look sick or like he needed any kind of medicine. "I have adhd."
He must have caught me staring at him and saying nothing. I nodded and let him return to whatever he was doing. He didn't seem like he had a behavior problem, but then again it was rare these days to NOT have some kind of behavior problem or ailment. Apparently 7 out of 10 kids needed some kind of medication to function normally throughout the whole day. I wasn't a doctor, but I'd heard my dad comment on it numerous times about how it seemed unnecessary. It wasn't really my place to say though, so I usually just nodded. I guessed I was pretty abnormal because I didn't take any medicine but my dad said I was just fine. So I was sticking with just fine.
After what felt like an eternity the other kids quickly went through and left and it was my turn. The nurse was a woman who could have been my grandma and looked really, really nice.
"What's the matter dear?" she asked after getting my information correct.
"During lunch I was walking to a table with my friends and not paying any attention and almost ran into someone. And when I moved to the side to not run into him, he was a big upperclassman, I ran into a table pretty hard and it hurts and is red. So my friends said I should come see you," I said really fast and then smiled. I pulled my shirt up to show her and she pursed her lips and nodded.
"Good thing you did," she commented. "This will probably bruise. It looks a little swollen. Tell me where it hurts when I apply pressure."
She put her hand on my side and I winced and told her when it hurt. She nodded and said something about icing it and then if it was still swollen and hurting really badly by nightfall to have a doctor look at it. She handed me an ice pack and sent me off on my way, writing me a note to English because the bell had already rang.
I chuckled on my way to class. My dad was a doctor so I didn't need to go to see one. That was probably the best part of my dad's job. If I got sick or hurt he always knew what to do and there was never the unnecessary ER trip or anything.
"What happened?!" Hannah asked when I sat down after handing the note to the teacher. We were doing independent work so the teacher didn't instantly hush us but instead give us a warning look.
"Long story," I replied in a whisper and tried to focus on my work. I didn't want to get into that now.
"I have time," she said back, receiving a shhhh from the teacher. I ignored her and went back to my work. It was hard holding the icepack to my side and also doing work. It was uncomfortable to sit like this too, so what wasn't helping.
A little piece of paper flew onto my work. I opened it to find Hannah's curly handwriting looking at me. You left lunch and then you come LATE to class with an icepack against your side. What happened? You have to tell me!
It's nothing. I tripped and fell, I wrote and passed it back. That was a terrible lie and I knew she wouldn't believe that.
Bull. Did someone push you?
I sighed. I knew that wouldn't work. Fine. Yes. But it wasn't on purpose. I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into an upperclassman who didn't seem to notice pushing me aside and I fell onto a trash can. That was a better lie. I would need to remember that because that would have to be my story for everyone else. I was about to open the note she sent back when the teacher snatched it from my hands. Hannah was really getting me in trouble this year. I remembered now why I wasn't really close with her. But it seemed like we were going to grow closer over the course of this year.
"As exciting as how you injured yourself is," the teacher said sarcastically. "You two should be doing your work. Don't make me tell you again or I will send both of you out."
"Yes ma'am," we both mumbled and left it at that. I dropped my head down and tried to finish as much work as I could before the bell rang.
When class was finally over Hannah and I walked out together. "You should be careful," she said in a worried tone. "Upperclassmen are a lot bigger than you."
"As if I didn't know," I sarcastically stated and stuck my tongue out at her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't want to be late to study hall."
Her mouth dropped and I walked off before she could ask me more. I didn't want to go through all of that now. I was distressed enough and spilling my guts like that wouldn't help. Besides, I wasn't supposed to make a big deal out of it and I was sure talking about it in the hallway was making it a big deal.
I entered the library and walked up to the man behind the desk. "Um, I'm Kaylee Parker and I'm here for study hall," I nervously said.
He looked up from the book he was looking at and looked me up and down. "Small for an upperclassman. But you don't need to tell me that every time Ms. Parker. Go sit over there or use the computers, I don't care. Just don't leave the library unless you talk to me first," he mumbled out and pointed at a group of couches and chairs before going back to his book.
There was no one sitting in any of the couches or chairs, so I picked a comfy looking chair and opened up a magazine that was sitting on the table next to me. It was some tabloid magazine but I didn't have anything I really needed to work on so it would do just fine.
After a couple minutes people started piling into the area but none of them seemed to notice me or even care so no one said anything. The late bell rang with no disruption to me and I casually flipped the next page of the magazine.
"Kaylee!" I heard a voice cry out. I had spoken too soon. "What on earth are you doing here?"
It was Collin. Of course it was Collin. I just couldn't escape him.
"Don't want to talk about it," I mumbled and went back to my magazine.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" he asked and sat on the arm of the chair.
"This is my class now," I responded without looking up.
"No shit? I didn't know freshman could have study hall," he said with a laugh and pulled the magazine away. I sighed and looked at him. He had his usual smug look on his face.
"Wait, why are you holding an icepack to your side?" he asked.
"Again, don't want to talk about it," I grumbled, trying to grab my magazine back.
"Tell me," He insisted and threw the magazine to the floor. A kid sitting on one of the couches looked up from a textbook but rolled his eyes and looked back down in a quick movement.
"No, okay, I just don't want to talk about it," I pleaded.
"Wait a minute," he said after staring at me awkwardly. His voice dropped to a whisper "You left me to go see Mr. Jackson. Did he hurt you?" His smug was now replaced with an angry look. He stood and stared at me as if to demand an answer.