Timber P.O.V.
I found my locker shortly after leaving Glenn's door. I put some of my binders and spirals inside, closed it and started walking towards the physics classroom. Ducking into the restroom at the last second, I checked my appearance in the mirror. My hair is still in place, my clothes are not rumpled, but I did fasten the last few buttons of my cardigan.
I had not ran into my friends yet. I am happy that I am going to get to see them all the time, but I am dreading the initial reunion. Some of their questions are going to be tough to deflect. I have not really thought about what I am going to tell them. We have to tell them, but I just don't know what to say. They are important to me; we have been friends for so long. I don't want to lose that, plus they are his world. We need to tell them soon. I do not want to lie to them, and I am NOT going to ask HIM to lie to them. I ran a thin layer of clear gloss over my lips and returned the tube to my bag, just as the bell rang to end the first period. Here we go. You've got this. Breath, just breathe.
When I re-entered the hallway, it was no longer quiet and empty. It is a buzz of activity, people walking to lockers, leaning against walls and chatting. It almost looked like a mad house. I walked into my second period class and handed the teacher my slip from the office. "Good morning, I'm Timber Mitchell, I was told to give this to my teachers." She took the slip, looked it over, signed the bottom and returned it to me. "Here you go, my name is Mrs. Ivans. There are some spare textbooks on the table along the back wall feel free to grab one and add your name to the issue list on the inside of the front cover. Now I have everyone partnered up, for the most part, but you can partner with Rikki. She is at the second table on the right. It wont matter which side of the table you sit on. You are going to need a one inch, three ringed binder with dividers for this class. When you come into class the notes for the day will be written on this board at the front of the class. I want you to start copying them down when the bell rings. If there aren't any notes there, I will have instructions on what to gather from the closets and set up at your table. Welcome to Physics."
"Thank you." I went to the back of the room, picked up a textbook that is in better condition than most and took the aisle seat at the designated table. I put my name in the book and pulled out an empty binder, loose leaf notebook paper, a pack of dividers and my pen pouch out of my bag. After quickly setting up my binder and area for class, I started copying the notes from the board, color coding as I go and making sure to draw the diagrams as clearly as I could for better understanding later.
I heard gasps of 'Oh my god!' and 'No way!' I put my pen down and looked up. There they are, my two best friends in the whole world, standing there with dropped jaws and looks of happy astonishment on their faces. I am so happy to see them, yet the dread feels like it formed into a ball of iron in the pit of my stomach. I quickly put a smile on my face and stood up. " Surprise!" We quickly closed the distance and gave each other a hug.
"What are you doing here?"
"Your mom actually let you transfer?"
I wrinkled my nose at the mention of my mother, not wanting to think about her again today. "Not exactly. I moved out." I held up my hands to stop the barrage of questions I didn't know how to answer yet. "It's a house across town, we can get into details another day, I do not want to get into it right now." Dev gave me an Oh-we-will-sister look and Arista just shrugged. "It was that bad huh?"
I settled for the truth. "Yes, and at the same time, no. Things changed. I'll tell you guys, it's just that some of it can be complicated and I just feel like it is better to leave all of that for another day and especially another place. Please?" My eyes went back and forth between them. "Girl, that's fine, but you better tell us. If anything, bad happened we want to know." Devan put her arm around my shoulder. "Yeah we got your six Elmo. Speaking of Elmo… PLEASE tell me that your playing softball with us!"
"You're so dramatic Dev. Yes, I plan on playing." This drew a squeal from both as the bell signaled the start of class.
They moved on and when I returned to my table, another girl is sitting there. "Hi, I'm Timber, are you Rikki?" She looked up and gave me a mega-watt smile. "Yep." She even popped the p. "Wait, wait. Are you THE TIMBER the twins are always going on about from their select team?" I shrugged a shoulder as I sat down and picked up my pen again. "Yeah probably, we're good friends." Her mouth dropped open. "No freaking way! You're playing for us right? For the school? Please please please pleeeeeeaaase!" I laughed and nodded. They weren't kidding. This girl is a hoot. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. You play first, right?"
"Yeah, sure do. They never really said what position you play, just that you are absolutely deadly." I gave a little amused chuckle. "I don't know about deadly, but I play a few spots. I have played pretty much every position in-field." We got back to copying our notes.
I had started reading through the designated pages on the board when Mrs. Ivans walked over. "Timber, I made copies of my notes and the worksheets from last week so you can catch up." I took them from her and thanked her. Seeing as she had already punched holes in them, I snapped them into the front of my binder.
Unfortunately, the twins, Devin and Arista, are not in my third period Government class. I had expected this class to go as smoothly as the last one, but of course, we don't always get what we want. The teacher, Coach Stafford, is making me stand in the front of the class, which is in four rows of four, introduce my self and he is letting the other people ask me questions. I am trying to get all the information out in my introduction, that way there is nothing anyone should ask me.
"Hi, I'm Timber Mitchell. I am eighteen, I transferred from Ridgeway, and I play softball." Before I could get anything else out, Coach Stafford, rudely, signaled for them to go across each row asking one question each starting from the front-left. Great, there's fifteen people in here.
"You're really little, how tall are you?"
"I'm four, eleven."
"Why are you wearing a uniform?"
"I had already purchased them, before I transferred. "
"What's your favorite color?" Oh well, this isn't too bad. "Red."
This one, temporarily confused me. "Why?" Huh? "Why what?" Graciously she elaborated. "Why is your favorite color red?" Kane. "I just like red."
It continued in this fashion, the surface questions that really don't mean anything. Until, the last few people. They got personal and invasive. This one a boy, with a leering grin, is one I'm certain that I care nothing about being friends with. "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"No." Not a lie.
A girl, obviously a bottle blonde, with way too much makeup on and a sneer on her face. "Did you take fashion advice from Paris Gellar?" That's a little rude. "No, but that's a good show."
"What position is your favorite?" Not bad.
"I primarily play catcher."
The boy started snickering. "I bet you do." Crude asshole!
"David!" Coach Stafford just shook his head at him. That's it? That's all your going to say to him?
A girl, with a really fake smile, is next. Oh lord. "How did you get the scar on your face?"
I paled. My hand involuntarily moved up to the left side of my face, where the still recent scar runs from above my ear down to under the middle of my cheekbone. "Surgery, after an accident." Accident my ass, you were assaulted.
Another guy with WAY too much confidence in himself. "What are you doing Friday night?"
Breathe, just breathe. "Movie night with my man."
I walked to my seat, unfortunately in the back next to him where he continued to try to ask me questions and I steadfastly ignored him. Regardless of what the teacher said, this inquisition is over.
I had shut down after the inquisition in third period. I didn't hear anything the teacher had said. Not that I cared at that point.
After slamming my locker closed a little harder than I meant to, I met up with the twins to head to fourth period. I'd get Government notes from them later. "How's your day so far?" I shook my head, which is starting to ache. Great on top of that shit show, a migraine is on the horizon. "Some kids here are awful." Devan nodded. "Yeah, they can be. What happened?" Breathing out a big sigh I shook my head again. "It's really not worth repeating."
We walked into the classroom, Glenn was putting a paper to the side when they saw him, and they started squealing. Wish I had my camera on. I guess they forgot he had surgery and they, pretty much, sandwiched him and started bouncing up and down. It is obvious that his knee is being knocked around. I pick a seat and they sit either side of me, Devan on my left, Arista on my right. At there outburst, I could hear people start to whisper, but they are not doing a very good job.
Devan spoke up excitedly again. "Did you see who else is here?" They both started pointing at me, with both hands. I just smiled and shook my head. Oh, I have missed these two.
He held up his had to stop them, after Arista asked why he hadn't told them he was going to be here. He spun his chair around to, I assumed, take something for his knee. Then turned back around and started speaking. "Arista, would you get the door please?" then he gave a little speech that, from his tone, sounded like he had given it several times today. It isn't even lunch yet. When he pointed at the three of us and said that we, are also expected to call him Mr. Jacobs. Kinky. STOP TIMBER. FOCUS GIRL. He then mentioned his first period class. Oh yes, the MacBook. I had overheard a boy in the hall, lamenting the fact that Glenn had confiscated his computer, blah, blah, blah.
He started with attendance and said that everyone would get one question. Some weren't that bad, but some of them were quite nosey. I can not believe the audacity of some people. I mean have a little couth.
I heard Devan snort, which brought my attention back to Glenn, after a boy asked a question. Glenn is giving her a look that says, 'You're not helping'. "Yeah, I am."
This continued until he got to the G names and the twins lay the guilt on thick. I can't help but to be concerned for them. I'm sure it is showing on my face. The next girl to be called, I think he said her name is Bethany, has a cat-that-ate-the-canary look on her face. I'm not too sure if I want to get to know her, she is throwing off vibes that just scream 'shit-stirrer'. "So, it's been rumored and confirmed on the internet that you got divorced, but you're clearly wearing a wedding band." Oh, crap he forgot to take off his ring! I covertly sneak a glance at my friends. Devan is trying to see his hand, but Arista is just sitting there kind of confused. Bethany continued. "Is that an indication that you have remarried, or is it just like stuck?" I just stared straight ahead at Glenn; he looks shocked for a half of couple of heart beats. Then he got the biggest shit eating grin on his face, chuckles and glances at me before he gives her answer that no one is prepared for. "Well, it's not stuck." Both girls on either side of me started shouting and he had to remind them that, this is not the time nor the place for this discussion. Wonder when we can all HAVE the discussion. He then moves on down the list of names and gives out the assignment for the day.
I basically just write about the differences in my old school and this one. The differences in conduct and people and faculty personalities, that is easy to fill a page, before I turn it into the basket on his desk. As I release the paper, he looks at me. "So how is your first day going so far?" I don't really want to air out my grievances here, so I shrug. "It could have been worse, but I met a few of the girls on the softball team. Devan wasn't kidding Rikki is a character." He chuckled and nodded. "True, wait till you see her get fired up."
As I walked back to my seat, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up, like someone is watching me. I looked around and found that not only is Bethany giving me the side-eye, but that one of the boys from my last class is in here as well. Oh, that's right. He asked Glenn what his wife looks like. Seems like a little perv to me. Sitting down, I pulled out the book I checked out from the library during my walk through. Everyone looked up at the sound of Glenn's voice, it was very authoritative and slightly menacing. "Is there something I can help you with, Benjamin?"
Heads and attentions turned to Benjamin. He had that cocky, but unimpressive, smirk on his face.
"I don't know maybe. Timber didn't give me a very good answer earlier." Oh, dear God, please no. Surely, he doesn't have the balls to go there.
Glenn's eyes, without turning his head or attention away from the boy, momentarily found my face with the look of Humiliated horror on it, before returning to Benjamin. "And what pray tell was the answer to?"
With that stupid look on his face, Benjamin gave the condensed, yet altered, version of events. "I just asked her what she is doing Friday night. She gave a bogus answer."
Glenn seemed unimpressed. "Uh huh and what pray tell was her answer?" Floor please open up and swallow me now. Please.
The kid shrugged." Just that she's watching movies with her," the idiot actually does the air quotes, "man."
He is now on the receiving end of a deadpanned look. "Sound like she gave you an answer." The twins swing their heads and look at me like 'Lucy you've got some splainin to do'.
"Yeah, but it is seriously bogus, I mean who moves schools, dresses like that and doesn't want to party?"
"If she were wearing something inappropriate, it would have been addressed when she came in."
"I think she's playing hard to get." Benjamin's eyes dirty to me. "Am I right?"
Devan is absolutely shaking beside me, and I see her start to get up, but I grab her arm and nod my head in Glenn's direction to stop her. His eyes looked slightly different. I have only seen them this way a couple of times, and that was when I went with them to a WWE event, and he was in character. Arista leaned in closer to me. "Oh crap, kid is dead."
Glenn's eyes found my face once again, "I don't think so, I think that you didn't get the answer you wanted to hear, I think it sounds like she has more respect for herself than you expected. I also think that you hare sorely mistaken, if you think, that humiliating her, is going to make her change her mind. It's called self respect kid. Get some and get out of my class."
What no one realized was that Glenn had hit the button on the phone in the classroom to page the principle's office directly. Mr. Carter heard the whole thing.
The intercom came on and Mr. Carter spoke up. "Benjamin Mock, report to my office immediately." The look he gave Glenn reminds you of the saying, if looks could kill.
Glenn just smiled at him. "If you can take anything away from this conversation, let it be this. I have zero tolerance for games, and I have zero tolerance for bullies. Don't forget to do the assignment."
Timber P.O.V.
The rest of the day has been uneventful. My study hall is in my first period Calculus classroom with Ms. Davis, so I was able to get that textbook and she signed my slip. I worked in the office for the next two class periods, then it was off to athletics.
I met Coach Kayla Day, the softball coach, she seemed nice. She wants to have a tryout later, around the beginning of next semester, to see where I am at. That's going to be fun!
Since they had to order my athletic clothes, Coach Martin, the athletic director, told me to use this week to catch-up on what I missed last week. Which I am grateful for, it's not a lot, but I am still grateful. I mainly read my library book, The Hobbit.
About fifteen minutes into class, I can hear my phone buzzing in my bag. What in the world? I placed my bag in my lap and pulled out my phone, hiding it behind the bag. It's a text message from Glenn.
Later, will you tell me what happened this morning?
Please?
Yes. We need to figure out how to tell Devan and Arista too.
I look around to make sure no one saw me and go to put it back in my bag, only to have it go off again.
Yeah, I know. We really should have done it before this.
You look really, nice today by the way.
Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself.
You're welcome.
Hey, aren't you supposed to be in class? ;p
Yea, but someone keeps texting me ;p
See you at home. :)
See you at home. :)
After closing the garage and pulling my things out of the car, I went inside through the door that connects to our laundry room. I flipped on the light and peeked over into the basket that collects the laundry from the chute upstairs. Not enough for a load. I hung up my keys on their hook by the door. "What a day man."
Going into the kitchen, off of the laundry rom, it didn't take long to grab a soda and a bag of chips off of the counter. Note to self….bring a lunch tomorrow. I poured some of the chips into a bowl and took it, along with my drink and bag to the dinning table and left it all there to go change.
I changed into a pair of soft black cotton shorts and a pink tank top, then hung my cardigan along with my tie back in the closet and returned downstairs to the kitchen.
I was able to throw together a pot of Taco Soup fairly quickly and left it to cook while I started on the make up work and my homework. I sat at the dinning table as to not leave the stove completely unattended,. Cause you know, safety first.
I pulled my physics book and binder out first, skimming, highlighting and annotating the copied notes from Mrs. Ivans from the week prior. When I reached the end, I hopped up and went to the pot to stir.
I was setting the heat to a lower setting, as Glenn entered through the laundry room, into the kitchen.
"Hey sweetie, what are you doing?"
"Heeey, working on a low maintenance meal while I play catch-up." I out the lid back on the pot and turned around. He has his eyebrows raised and the right side of his mouth is kicked up in a half smile.
"A low maintenance meal?"
I shrugged. "Yeah, you know not as needy for attention." He chuckled and pulled me in for a tired hug, I wrapped my arms around his waist as best I could. "How's your knee?" I can feel his wide chest fill with a deep breath.
"It's killing me." Propping my chin on the bottom of his sternum, to look up and see that, it is indeed, hurting him a good deal. "Why don't you go take something and then hop in the shower? Dinner will be done by the time you get back down. So you can get something in your stomach… besides coffee."
He gave me a light squeeze and dropped his arms, before heading out of the kitchen through the living room to go upstairs. Yeah, its bad if he didn't put up any fight. Hardheaded man.
I had cleared the stuff I was working on away and put the skillet for the ground meant into the dishwasher, when I noticed that I hadn't washed the coffee pot this morning. Turning on the hot tap, I swirled the water in the pot and reached for a pump of dish soap from the little dispenser. "I just love this little thing."
"What little thing?" With a shriek, I whirled around and barely saved the coffee pot from near tragic death on the tiled floor. "Oh my god, that was almost a disaster! Don't sneak up on me like that."
Normal P.O.V.
She looked over at Glenn and saw he was trying not to laugh. "Hey, you would have been without coffee, too!" She rinsed the pot an put it back in its rightful place before trying to reach some glasses out of the upper cabinet. He watched her for a few seconds, she was on the tippy-tips of her toes, with her pink little tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth and stretching as far up as she can, they are still out of reach.
Guess I put them up to high. She's so stinking tiny.
Walking up behind her, he put his left hand on her left hip and reached over her to get a glass with his right. "Did I put 'em up to high?" She was looking at his hand on her hip, but he didn't move it. We're married, I can casually touch my wife...can't I... you, haven't touched her at all! MAN UP. We're both in this for the long haul.
"Uh yeah...hey why are there no step stools in this house?" She was looking up at him now with her head cocked to the left. "I'm six foot ten. Don't really need them, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to have a couple." He reached up to get a second glass, when she turned causing his hand to skim over her butt, to her opposite hip, their bodies are almost pressed up against each other. She then placed her right hand over the one on he has on her hip, rubbing the back of his hand. "Does your knee feel any better?"
"Yeah. Kicked in faster than I thought it would." She nodded, "You probably need to get something on top of it, before you end up getting sick." He made a face at that comment. "That's what I thought, it's ready. Come on big guy."
After getting their food and drinks to the table, they ate in companionable silence for a few small moments. "So how did the day go after I left?" Glen hissed a heavy sigh through his closed lips. "Oh, come on it couldn't have been that bad." He looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Well, I wouldn't exactly say that it was bad, because it could have been worse. At the same time, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows either."
Timber took a sip of her drink. "Uh-oh. What happened?" Glen chose to take the time to eat a bite, before he continues. "Let's just say that it was my first day and I've already got a set of parents angry with me and their kid thinks I have it out for him. Not to mention, the one I wanted to put through a wall." Her eyebrows rose with understanding. "Tanner MacAlpin and his folks, huh?" He nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know that?" Timber simply shrugged her shoulders. "Small school. He was whining about it in the hall earlier, I mean what did he think was going to happen?"
Glen had finished eating before she did, so he took his dishes to the sink and made himself a cup of coffee, before rejoining her at the table. "So how did your day go with the girls?" He grunted in response. "Glen I think we should tell them. It'll make things a lot smoother for all of us. We'll tell them that they can't say anything." He nodded after a thought filled moment. "Yeah, you're right. I owe it to them. After all they're the ones that told me about her." Timber choked on her soda. "What?"
"Yeah, they told me how they were 'tired of her pretending to still love me, even though she clearly didn't, because she was seeing this guy'. Let's just say they were eventually found out, not just by the girls either."
"Wow I wish I could say that I'm sorry, but I'm not. However, I am sorry that you had to go through all of that. "Glen reached across the table, placing his hand over her much smaller one to give it a gentle squeeze. "I think I know what you mean."
With dinner being over, they moved into the living room to watch a T.V. " I don't care, you pick. I need to start the laundry." After watching her go, he turned to the couch and sat down to flip through the channel. As he did so, his thoughts began to wander to someone in very small shorts. My god, she looks good in those. I think she's trying to kill me. God we need to talk, but it's going to be so awkward. What does she even think of me? Probably as her bestfriends' dad. Oh god, what if she doesn't even like me in any capacity other than that? Well, she di choose to marry me... that has to mean something. Hearing her come back into the room, he selected a documentary about some giant crabs, or something like that.
As she sat down on the couch, he watched her grab the blanket off of the other end. "Are you cold?" Timber got comfortable on the couch with him. "No, but I know from experience that when you pick something, I'm usually going to get the crap scared out of me." Chuckling, he shook his head and nodded to the big TV. "Not this time." She looked at the screen and grinned. "Oooo is this about those coconut crabs?"
He shrugged. "Not sure, its called Gentle Giants." Timber nudged him with her elbow. "Hey, I know one of those."
After about twenty minutes into it, he felt her lean her back up against him and put her little feet up on the couch with her knees up. He raised his arm up, she scooted as close as she could get under his arm. With the meds still messing with his head a little, he wrapped his right arm around her and let his hand rest against the side of her hip, making her feel a little closer to him.
After a few minutes, he couldn't take it anymore, he can't focus on the show, the thoughts from earlier still giving him grief. The anxiety over it causing him to unconsciously run his hand slowly up and down the side of her thigh. Even though he heard her shocked intake of breath, he continued for a moment, before he stopped with his hand back on the part of her hip that was showing out from under her shorts. Of course, the fact that they were all scrunched up from the way that she was sitting left a little more exposed than earlier when she was trying to reach those glasses. This conversation has to happen. Taking a deep breath, he decided to just jump in. "We need to talk I guess."
He can feel her, shift to look up at him. He looked down at her because, even though he is sitting, he still has to look down. "Yeah, they were asking me all kinds of questions. I was able to hold them off, saying that I just didn't want to get into it all today."
"Yeah, we need to talk about that too, but I was talking about something else." That made her sit up, scoot away and turn to face him. Her legs are still up in the couch, criss-crossed and is still close enough for her knee to touch his thigh. She had a concerned look on her cute little face and he felt bad for being the one to put it there. "Okay, what is it?"
Glenn put his hand back on her knee. "It's just, what are we doing? I mean what's going on here?" Motioned the space in between them to indicate that he meant 'what's going on between them'. Her brows drew down in distress and she pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them to her.
"What do you mean?" There is a little wobble to her voice.
Oh, crap I don't want her to cry. I don't want to make her cry. "No, no, no. No crying. I just mean… I mean what do you even think of me? I mean do you even like me?" His voice is soft and non combative.
She looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Glenn, if I didn't like you, I wouldn't have married you, or be here right now."
That made him feel a little better. "So, am I just your friends' dad?" Aaaand you just made it weird.
To his surprise, she giggled a little. "No goofy. If I thought of you as just their dad, I wouldn't be here without them, or, once again, I wouldn't have married you."
"So, what are you saying?"
The look she has, makes it clear that she thinks he is wonderful, but being something of an idiot. "What I am saying, is that I like you. I mean I really care for you, I have for a long time. Felt pretty, guilty about it at times, but there it is."
Okay that did Surprise him. "Seriously?" She nodded. "Well, I really like you too and care about you so much. Okay so maybe we need to dive into this a little more because I want everything to be crystal clear here."
"I think that would probably be best." She reached forward and picked up his much larger hand in her's.
"Look, I do really like you. I like you more than I previously should have. I really care about you and I do love you, I have for a long time and I really want to make this work. At our own pace, at a pace that we are both, comfortable with. How does that sound?"
She watched his face closely, her eyes moving back and forth between his own, with a soft smile on her face. "I think that sounds, like you took the words right out of my mouth." They returned to their former positions, and she dramatically snuggled into him as he chuckled. "You know I really don't think you can get any closer."
"Oh, I'm sure I could think of something. Speaking of 'think of something', when are we going to talk to Devan and Arista? I personally think it needs to be soon, in the next few days if possible. I don't like giving them the run around and I know that you don't either."
He let his head fall back to the back of the couch and gave a deep sigh. "I know, maybe we can do dinner? Maybe tomorrow or the Wednesday? It, needs to be soon. I'm going to text now actually and see if they can do tomorrow. If you're up for that, that is?" Timber nodded. "Okay."
Timber shifted a little. "Oh, another thing I thought about. You're not supposed to be driving, and with today making you hurt as bad as you are. I think we should just take the one vehicle; I'll drive."
He nodded. "I was thinking about that before I left campus earlier. Driving home was horrible."
His phone went off signaling that he has a new text message. He looked at it and sighed. "They can do dinner tomorrow."
"Okay sounds good, but Glenn I swear, if Devan calls me mom, all bets are off. I'm hurting your child." He chuckled and gave her a gentle squeeze. "I would pay to see that."
