My Yearning Heart

Chapter 7

A Rough Patch

"Ms. Belladonna, will you please go out with me?" And there it was. The horrifying question that leaves me in pain every time it happens. I had to be honest with her. She was nice girl and all, but this thing she longs for is just not possible.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Nikos. We can never be."

"Why not? Can you at least tell me that?"

"Just look at the situation. You're in high school. All I would do is hold you back. I can't fulfill your wants and desires. I'm sorry." Right on schedule, that look of sadness and hopelessness showed on her face. It was still too hard to look so I had to avert my eyes until she finally left my room. Once she finally did, I closed the door behind her and noticed the thing that Yang dropped. It was the capsule packages from the medicine I gave her earlier. Was she asking for more? But then again, why did she run off without saying anything? I looked at the clock and saw that it was getting late. I quickly packed up and kept the empty package with me.

When I got home, Blake welcomed me back with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I tried my best to not let her know about what happened so I put my things in my room and ate dinner with her. During that time, we didn't really talk. We just ate food and put away our things once we were done.

That night was another struggle for me to fall asleep. I know it didn't happen, but it seemed as if I witnessed two confessions in one day. However, it was only one so why did it seem like two? I just hope the two of them are okay. It's always my responsibility to worry about those I work with in the nurse's office, but these circumstances were a little different. I just didn't know what to think at that time.

The rest of the week was quiet. Some kids came in with minor problems, but I was able to solve them with ease. It was quiet in that there were no surprises. I saw Pyrrha out on the athletic fields, but nothing went wrong. I didn't even see Yang around campus at all. I asked Blake about her, but she said she's been a little depressed. I couldn't help but feel guilty about that. I mean, I didn't do anything wrong, yet something inside of me said that I had to take responsibility for it. I didn't know how to do that so I just tried to ease up on the situation and think of something else. When the weekend came around, Blake asked if she could spend the night at her friend's house and I quickly agreed. I needed a weekend on my own and that's exactly what I did.

I had no plans to do anything so I went into town, looking for something to do. However, something immediately caught my eye. It was Great Times Bar. This time, I knew I wasn't going to get drunk, but I decided to go inside anyway. Maybe there was something that could help me get over this little rough patch I've been experiencing. Immediately, I was greeted by a familiar voice. It was Cinder, from the night before. She quickly walked over to me and wrapped her arm around my neck with a smile on her face.

"Hey, how are you? I heard you ended up looking like shit on that night."

"Haha, let's not talk about that. I'm still trying to forget about it myself."

"Well, take a seat and relax." She walked me to the counter and flagged down the waiter. "So what do you want this?"

"Oh, I'm not gonna drink this time. Can I just get a glass of water?"

"What?! You're not gonna drink? Where's the fun in that?"

"I came here because I thought I could clear my head a bit."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you sober?"

"Come on. It takes a lot for me to be knocked on my ass. If it's something that you want to talk about, I'd be more than willing to listen." It took me a second to open up to her. I only met once before, but something about her told me that she was very trusting. I took a deep breath and decided to let it out.

"I've got something going on at school which is a little embarrassing for me."

"Oh come on, it's school. I'm sure nothing is really that embarrassing."

"Oh yeah? How's high school students confessing their love to me not embarrassing." I slammed my face against the counter as my glass of water finally arrived. After that, there was a little silence in our conversation before she spoke up again.

"Ah, I see what you mean."

"What should I do?"

"Well, you shouldn't panic. I'm sure that this is all a joke."

"It's not. Most of them were being completely serious. How am I supposed to react when kids so much younger than me want to go out with me? It's wrong in so many ways."

"I'm not saying this is right or wrong, but back in the day, people married each other who were nowhere near the same age. You remember that generation, right?" I nodded my head. She was right. People did use to be like that. "Now, I'm not a love expert or anything, but love shouldn't restrain someone from age." I quickly rose back up and looked her in the eye.

"Are you saying I should be okay with this?"

"No, I'm not saying that! It's just that you never know where that one person will be. It could come from anywhere or anyone." For some reason, those words she spoke really made me think. I understand what she's talking about, but I just couldn't believe. Was it was really okay to love someone who was this younger than me? I don't even if know if I could bring myself to truly believe that. "You know, I think I had something that might help you out. One of my friends said she tried to confess to her teacher." I immediately widened my eyes. Was this a popular thing to do nowadays?

"What?! What happened?"

"Unfortunately, she got rejected." Even though it was a student trying to confess to her teacher, I couldn't help but feel bad about it. "Yeah, it was a tough blow. From the outside, no one would believe it, but she actually has a really fragile heart. She doesn't actually find love that easily, but she told me all about this teacher and said that she was the one for her."

"Wait a second. I'm not trying to criticize your friend or anything, but how does she know that her teacher was the one?"

"She couldn't really explain it, but she just knew. She said her pounded out of her chest whenever she saw her. She tells me that she tries to put on a strong face, but it always comes off a little awkward."

Wait… She just said "her." Her friend was trying to go after a female teacher?

"I tried telling her to just try and find someone else, but she insists that there's no one else for her. She told me that she's going to keep trying, but right now, she's been kind of down. The news of her rejection was a little difficult for her. We've been hanging around a lot, but today she said she wanted to try to be on her own." There were so many things running through my head. This girl was being very persistent even though he was already rejected. What does she think she can accomplish by doing this? Just then, something came to my mind that made me worry.

"Um, about your friend, is she like a college student or something?"

"No, she's attending high school." My eyes shot wide open.

"What's her name?"

"Yang. Why do you ask?" A knife pierced my heart as my mind went blank. I quickly got out of my chair and stumbled to the front door. Cinder noticed my strange behavior and tried to calm me down.

"Hey, what's going on? Are you okay?" I was getting dizzier and dizzier. I couldn't believe this was happening.

"I have to get home right now."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You don't seem too good right now."

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"I'm sorry, but I kind of have to. I don't want you doing something that could end hurting you."

"Let go of me." Out of nowhere, she gripped me by the shoulders and threw me on one of the chairs that was outside of the bar. The force of her throw actually straightened my head a bit and I was able to think more clearly.

"Alright, let's just calm down and take a deep breath. And when you're ready, do you wanna tell me what's wrong?" I took that deep breath she was talking about and looked her right in the eye.

"That teacher your friend was talking about… I'm that teacher."

End of Chapter 7